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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 























THE SANITARY DRAINAGE 


OF 


HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


FOURTH EDITION , REVISED AND ENLARGED. 



GEORGE E. WARING, Jr. 

*« 

CONSULTING ENGINEER FOR AGRICULTURAL AND SANITARY WORKS. 


“ A hale cobbler is a better man than a sick king.” 




Ktw of 

COFYi\'Iu,‘/ r 

"Hr-gr 1884 
No.A.i o / r 


BOSTON: 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY. 

©jje KtoeustiJe Preea, 

1883. 










Copyright, 1876, 

Bt GEORGE E. WARING, J*. 



RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE: 
STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY 
H. 0. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY. 



PREFACE. 


This book has grown out of a series of articles 
originally published in the “ Atlantic Monthly ” 
magazine. The interest evinced in the subject by 
persons in every condition of life, and in all parts 
of the country, seemed to indicate that its more de¬ 
tailed treatment would be acceptable. As the in¬ 
vestigations which the preparation of those articles 
made necessary have, together with professional 
studies, brought within my reach a wide range of 
material, I have presumed to submit what I have 
to say on the subject in this more permanent and 
more complete form. 

The following chapters are not offered as of ma¬ 
terial value to such engineers and architects as have 
given attention to their subject, as these would nat¬ 
urally resort to the original authorities from which 
they have been so largely drawn. They are ad¬ 
dressed more especially to the average citizen and 
householder, and are intended rather as an incen- 
tiv e to the securing of good work, than as a guide 
to the manner of its performance. For this reason 
they are largely devoted to the question of prevent¬ 
able disease ; to the manner in which this increases 



VI 


PREFACE. 


our death-rate and lessens our worth to ourselves 
and to the community; and to those means which 
experience has shown to be best adapted for the re- 
moval of unhealthful conditions. 

The instances are of course not rare in which the 
individual householder may have it in his power to 
secure, either by his own direction, or by his influ¬ 
ence over the sanitary authorities of his town or 
city, an improvement of the conditions by which 
the health of his own household is now endangered. 
To this end I have endeavored to include so much 
of specific instruction as shall enable him to give a 
direction to the necessary local improvements. 

Some of the points discussed are especially in¬ 
tended for the information of town authorities, and 
the usual sewer and health committees of local gov¬ 
ernment boards. 

If I shall have succeeded in inducing such per¬ 
sons to secure the needed reforms, and to insure their 
proper execution, this part of my work will have 
attained its best purpose. 

Newport, R. I., March, 1876. 

This second edition is corrected and amended in 
accordance with the material recent improvements 
of the art. 

Newport, R. I., June, 1879. 


CONTENTS 


♦ 


» 


CHAPTER I. 

PAGl 

The Sanitary Relations of Drainage . • . . 9 


CHAPTER II. 

The Drainage of Houses . 


71 


CHAPTER III. 

The Drainage of Towns.. 105 

CHAPTER IV. 

Arranging Plans for Town Sewerage. 123 

CHAPTER V. 

The Construction of Sewers. 180 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Details of House Draining. 186 

CHAPTER VII. 


The Dry Conservancy System 


21.3 





viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Vaults and Privies .... 


CHAPTER IX. 

Liernur’s Pneumatic System of Sewerage . 


CHAPTER X 

The Disposal of Sewage . . • 


CHAPTER XI. 

The Drainage of a Village . 


CHAPTER XII. 

Recent Modifications in Sanitary Drainage 


. . 272 


. 284 


314 


. 333 


. 344 



THE SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES 

AND TOWNS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE SANITARY RELATIONS OP DRAINAGE. 

“Mr. Wadley— described as a stout, robust gentleman — could 
not understand all the fuss made nowadays about the water ques¬ 
tion. Mr. Cooper cut the knot. He said that sin had brought 
disease into the world, and the Almighty permitted the outbreak of 
diarrhoea in their midst; neither doctors nor any one else could 
prevent it. Mr. Cooper is not far wrong. Sin has much to do 
with diarrhoea, especially municipal sin, which permits a population 
to drink sewage, and then coolly satisfies itself with referring the 
’udgment to the Almighty.” 

The art of Sanitary Drainage may almost be said 
to have been born — or reborn — but a quarter of a 
century ago, and it has contended with much diffi¬ 
culty in bringing itself to the notice of the public. 
Indeed, it is only within the past ten years that it 
has made its way in any important degree outside 
of purely professional literature. 

Dr. Henry Maccormac says, “We live or we die, 
live well or miserably, live our full term or perish 
prematurely, accordingly as we shall wisely or oth¬ 
erwise determine.” 



10 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Happily, men, — and women too,— are fast com¬ 
ing to realize the fact that humanity is responsible 
for much of its own sickness and premature death, 
and it is no longer necessary to offer an apology for 
presenting to public consideration a subject in 
which, more than in any other, — that is, the sub¬ 
ject of its own healthfulness and the cleanliness of 
its own living,—the general public is vitally inter¬ 
ested. 

The evils arising from sanitary neglect are as old 
as civilization, perhaps as old as human life, and 
they exist about every isolated cabin of the newly 
settled country. As population multiplies, as cab¬ 
ins accumulate into hamlets, as hamlets grow into 
villages, villages into towns, and towns into cities, 
the effects of the evil become more intense, and in 
their appeal to our attention they are reinforced by 
the fact that while in isolated life fatal or debili¬ 
tating illness may equally arise, in compact commu¬ 
nities each case arising is a menace to others, so 
that a single centre of contagion may spread devas¬ 
tation on every side. 

It is not enough that we build our houses on 
healthful sites, and where we have pure air and 
pure water; we must also make provision for pre¬ 
venting these sites from becoming foul, as every un¬ 
protected house-site inevitably must, — by sheer 
force of the accumulated waste of its occupants. 

Houses, even of the best class, which are free 
from sanitary objections are extremely rare. The 
best modern appliances of plumbing are made with 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 11 

almost no regard for the tendency of sewer-gas to 
find its way into living-rooms, nor for other in¬ 
sidious but well known defects. So generally is 
this true, that it is hardly an exaggeration to say 
that unwholesomeness in our houses is practically 
universal. Hardty less universal is a curious sen¬ 
sitiveness on the part of the occupants of these 
houses to any suggestion of their short-comings. 

Singularly enough, no one whose premises are 
subject to malarial influences seems willing to be 
told the truth with regard to them. No man likes 
to confess that his own well and his own cess-pool 
occupy the same permeable stratum in his garden : 
that the decaying vegetables in his cellar are the 
source of the ailments in his household ; or that an 
obvious odor from his adjacent pig-sty, or from his 
cfostly marble-topped wash-stand, has to do with the 
disease his physician is contending against. 

That the imperfections of our own premises are a 
menace to our neighbors is a still more irritating 
suggestion, and such criticism seems to invade the 
domain of our private rights. Yet surely there can 
be no equitable or legal private right whose main¬ 
tenance endanger the well-being of others,—as 
our wide-spread disregard of the defects in our own 
houses does endanger the well-being of our fellow- 
lownsmen. It is not possible, in a closely built 
town or compact neighborhood, for one to retain in 
his own grounds (either on the surface or in a vault 
or cess-pool) any form of ordure or festering organic 
matter, without endangering the lives of his neigh- 


12 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

bors, through either the pollution of the common 
air or the poisoning of wells fed from strata under¬ 
lying the whole ground and more or less tainted by 
household wastes. Even if he might be permitted 
to maintain a source of injury to his own family, 
his neighbors may well insist that he shall not en¬ 
danger them. 

It being important for all that each be made to 
live cleanly, and the requirements of all, so far as 
the removal of the wastes of life is concerned, being 
essentially of the same character, the question of 
drainage is one in which the whole public is inter¬ 
ested, and which should be decided and carried out 
by public authority, — so that all may have the ad¬ 
vantage of the economy of organized work and the 
security of work well done. This applies not only 
to the construction of common sewers and public 
drains, but equally to those lateral branches of the 
public works which extend into private grounds and 
houses, — and it applies to every detail of these. 
So long as these important duties are left to the 
negligence of house-holders and to the demand for 
excreta among those who use manure, so long will 
they remain haphazard, unsatisfactory, and danger¬ 
ous. 

Wherever there is a systematically organized and 
well conducted board of health, it has been well 
suggested that their duties should include some 
power of veto upon the right of building houses 
upon unwholesome sites. All scavenging and disin¬ 
fecting must, in order to be effective, be thorough and 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


13 


systematic, — which conditions can only be secured 
by the most careful public direction and supervision. 

The drainage question is essentially a question ot 
health and life. Dr. George Derby stated the whole 
case when he said: “ The well are made sick and the 
sick are made worse for the simple lack of God’s 
pure air and pure water.” Air is infected and 
water is tainted, not only by defects in the public 
works, but quite as often and quite as dangerously 
by imperfections in household arrangements. 

Neither Dr. Derby’s statement nor the most per¬ 
fect modern development of the art of cleansing 
towns by water-carriage has the merit of novelty. 
Hippocrates gave as the cardinal hygienic formula, 
u Pure air, pure water, and a pure soil,” and after 
all these centuries we know nothing to add to it. 
Our modern sewerage works are thus far only tak¬ 
ing us back to the cleanly condition of the most 
prosperous ancient cities ; only lifting us out of the 
slough of plague-causing filth that marked the dark¬ 
est periods of the Middle Ages ; only continuing the 
wholesome revival that the Mohammedan Moors in¬ 
troduced among the unwashed Christians of Europe. 
It is a revival that has grown slowty, urged on by 
the harsh whip of disease and death. So late as the 
middle of the brilliant ninteenth century it had 
only begun to command the aid of the law, and as 
a subject of popular interest it can hardly yet be 
said to receive the attention of even the more intel¬ 
ligent members of societ}^. 


14 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Yet when the subject is once considered, every 
thoughtful person must appreciate the fact that in 
seeking the advantages of community of living we 
necessarily depend at every turn upon our fellow- 
men, and that in this communion we lay ourselves 
open to the consequences of the neglect of others,— 
while we equally threaten others with the conse¬ 
quences of our own neglect. The influence of 
thoughtful persons cannot long be withheld from 
a movement whose object it is to popularize the 
knowledge of good and evil in the conduct of the 
dady life of the household and of society, and to 
make the public at large insist that each shall so 
regulate his action as to secure the greatest safety 
for all. 

Public sanitary improvement is not the affair of 
the philanthropist alone, nor is the interest of the 
individual satisfied when he has made his own im¬ 
mediate surroundings perfect. Everything that can 
affect the health of the poorest and most distant of 
our neighbors may affect us ; and, practically, the 
spread of disease in closely-built towns is more often 
than not, by the agency of public sewers, from the 
poorest classes upward, so that many a patient fall¬ 
ing ill of contagious or infectious disease in the back 
slums of the city becomes the centre of a wide in¬ 
fection. The health of each is important to all, 
and all must join in securing it,—the public con¬ 
trol, in the public interest, must extend to the sani¬ 
tary condition of every household, —not among the 
poor alone, but at least equally among the rich. In- 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


15 


deed, from the greater complication of their plumb¬ 
ing work, the houses of the rich really require more 
careful supervision than do the simpler ones of the 
poorer class. 

Not less important is the condition of the public 
sewers and drains. 

An old-fashioned sewer has been well called a re¬ 
tort for the manufacture of sewer poisons which are 
“ laid on ” at every house by an ingenious system 
of pipes delivering an intermittent supply through 
every water-closet, bath-tub, and wash-basin, and 
producing its annual crop of zymotic disease. 

The case has been very well stated by Dr. Sand- 
with. u Now, in doing away with the cess-pools all 
connected together, never properly cleansed, and last, 
and worst of all, communicating with the interior 
of dwelling-houses. If you have a case of typhoid 
fever a mile off, who knows but you may have the 
mysterious fungoid organisms conveyed into your 
own house through the water-closet. It is all very 
well to boast of traps and of similar mechanical ar¬ 
rangements, but remember there is such a thing as 
corrosion of metals, and the smallest defect, no 
larger than the interior of a straw, may introduce 
into your houses vast volumes of gas.” 

The great aim of all sewerage work is to secure 
to every member of the community his- full supply 
of uncontaminated air, and, where wells are used, of 
pure drinking water. 

Referring to the lower quarters of the city of Bos¬ 
ton, Dr. Derby asks us to consider w what would be 


16 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

the effect upon the annual mortality in a community 
like Boston, if the wretched cellars and crystal pal¬ 
aces and rookeries and dens in which the extremely 
poor and improvident live could be depopulated, and 
their occupants transferred to well drained and 
lighted and ventilated buildings, of however cheap 
and simple construction ; if all the foul fluids could 
be made quickly to depart by force of gravity 
through ventilated sewers ; if all the foul solids 
could be removed without delay in carts provided 
with means for arresting putrefaction ; if the blind 
alleys and narrow streets were opened to the admis¬ 
sion of the air and of sunlight; if the old vaults 
were removed, the old cisterns torn down or filled, 
and the general principle of cleanliness in its broad¬ 
est sense applied to air, water, and food.” The pict¬ 
ure would have been complete, had he suggested the 
well-known fact that the danger to the community 
from the class of diseases known as “ pytliogenic ” 
(born of putridity) is not confined to those who live 
amid these filthy surroundings, but that the very 
sewers with which the better houses are drained 
are too often subterranean channels for conveying 
poisonous gases from the places of their origin to 
quarters which, without this transmission, might 
have their own drains so arranged that they would 
remain free from contamination. 

Self-preservation is the first law of our nature ; 
but it is a law which we ignorantly and constantly 
disregard in laying our life and health at the mercy 
of the foul conditions of life prevailing among our 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 17 

neighbors, — and which we too often disregard in 
blindly trusting to the skillful but ill-advised work 
of our well-paid but untaught plumbers. 

We roll up our eyes and stand aghast when con¬ 
templating the horrors of war ; yet the mortality of 
war is trifling as compared with the mortality by 
preventable disease. England, in twenty-two years 
of continuous war, lost 79,700 lives; in one year of 
cholera she lost 144,860 lives. 

We look idly on and see our population decimated 
by an infant mortality so great that its like among 
calves and colts would appall the farmer, and set 
the whole community energetically at work to dis¬ 
cover a remedy. 

It is estimated that for every person dying, twenty 
fall sick (Playfair estimates it at twenty-eight), and 
— to turn the argument in a direction best under¬ 
stood by many of our more influential neighbors — 
that every case of sickness is, on an average, equiv¬ 
alent to a loss of fifty dollars. 

Dr. Stephen Smith says: “ Man is born to health 
and longevity; disease is abnormal, and death, ex¬ 
cept from old age, is accidental, and both are pre¬ 
ventable by human agencies.” 

Disease is not a consequence of life; it is due to 
an unnatural condition of living, — to neglect, abuse, 
or want. 

Were any excuse needed for the constant reitera¬ 
tion of such truths as are known concerning the 
origin and spread of infectious diseases, it is to be 
found in the hope that by creating a public realiza- 

2 


18 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

tion of the danger of sanitary neglect we may ob¬ 
viate the necessity that now seems to exist for the 
appearance of occasional severe epidemics, acting 
as scavengers and inducing the performance of sani¬ 
tary duties whose continued neglect would lead to 
even more serious results. 

Dr. Farmer speaks of pestilence as the angel 
“ with which it would seem it has pleased the 
Almighty Creator and Preserver of mankind ” to 
awaken the human race to the duty of self-preser¬ 
vation ; plagues u not committing havoc perpetu¬ 
ally, but turning men to destruction and then sud¬ 
denly ceasing, that they may consider. As the lost 
father speaks to the family, and the slight epidemic 
to the city, so the pestilence speaks to nations.” 

The death-rate in the healthiest broad districts in 
England may be fixed at about fifteen per thousand 
per annum ; but taking the whole kingdom into 
consideration, the death-rate is thirty-five per thou¬ 
sand, over one fourth of the deaths being due to 
preventable diseases. It is estimated that eighteen 
deaths take place every hour which might have been 
prevented by proper precaution. In addition to 
this, account must be taken of the lowering of the 
tone of health of those who survive, and of the ex¬ 
istence of a vast number of weakly persons who are 
a tax on the community, and who transmit an in¬ 
heritance of physical weakness to their offspring. 
Infants are most susceptible to unhealthful influ¬ 
ences, and one half of the population of Great Brit¬ 
ain dies before attaining the age of five years. 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 19 

By another statement: “ Looking at England as 
a whole, we see that of each one hundred persons 
who die, not quite ten have reached the standard 
old age of seventy-five years ; and that of each one 
hundred children born, hardly seventy-four coni' 
plete five years of life.” 

An ordinary epidemic any modern community 
will bear almost with indifference. The few who 
know the close relation between the disease and its 
preventable cause will generally maintain their ac¬ 
customed indifference until their own circle is at¬ 
tacked, and even then they are powerless to arouse 
the authorities to the necessary action. It is only 
when an outbreak of more than ordinary malignity 
occurs that even the sanitary boards of most of our 
towns bestir themselves in the matter ; but if the 
prevalence and the malignity be sufficient, there 
follows a most active cleansing of streets, purifica¬ 
tion of drains, and investigation of the private hab¬ 
its of the lower classes of the people. Then only 
is such attention given to the most obvious duty not 
only of the sanitary authorities, but of every man 
in the community, as, had it been exercised in ad¬ 
vance, would have prevented every unnecessary 
death and every case of preventable sickness that 
has gone to swell the aggregate needed to attract 
public attention. 

Nothing so arouses the alarm of a people as an 
epidemic of cholera; yet it is a singular fact that, 
even during the most severe cholera epidemics, the 
ieaths from this disease are less than from many 


20 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


others which attract no attention and excite no ap¬ 
prehension. During the very alarming epidemic of 
1849-50, there were 31,506 deaths from cholera in 
the United States. During the same period, there 
were more than this number of deaths from other 
diseases of the intestinal canal, and more from fevers 
alone. 

That a proper use of known sanitary appliances 
is competent to remove the causes of a large class of 
fatal diseases is hardly disputed, and it is clearly 
proven by experience here and abroad. 

Mr. Baldwin Latham, in his excellent work on 
“ Sanitary Engineering/’ gives the following table, 
showing the effect on health of sanitary works in 
different towns in England : — 


Name of 
Place. 

Popula¬ 
tion in 
1861. 

Average 
Mortality 
per 1,000 
before 
Construc¬ 
tion of 
Works. 

Average 
Mortality 
per 1,000 
since Com¬ 
pletion of 
Works. 

Saving of 
Life 

perCent. 1 

Reduction 
of Typhoid 
Fever Rate 
per Cent. 

Reduction 
in Rate of 
Phthisis 
per Cent. 

Banbury 

10,238 

23.4 

20.5 

321 

48 

41 

Cardiff . . 

32,954 

33.2 

22.6 

32 

40 

17 

Croydon 

30,229 

23.7 

18.6 

22 

63 

17 

Dover . 

23,108 

22.6 

20.9 

7 

36 

20 

Ely . . . 

7,847 

23.9 

20.5 

14 

56 

47 

Leicester . 

08,056 

26.4 

25.2 

44 

48 

32 

Macclesfield 

27,475 

29.8 

23.7 

20 

48 

31 

Merthyr 

52,778 

33.2 

26.2 

18 

60 

11 

Newport . 

24,756 

31.8 

21.6 

32 

36 

32 

Rugby . . 

7,818 

19.1 

18 6 

24 

10 

43 

Salisbury . 

9,030 

27.5 

21.9 

20 

75 

49 

Warwick . 

10,570 

22.7 

210 

74 

52 

19 


1 It is to be remembered that even this great saving of life has been 
effected by works that are very far from perfect. 





















SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


21 


The average reduction of typhoid rate was nearly 
one half (47f percent.) in these twelve small towns. 
It is believed to be practicable, by the use of the 
most perfect known methods of drainage and ven¬ 
tilation, absolutely to prevent the occurrence of a 
single original case, and to confine all importations 
of the disease to the persons of those who bring 
them. 

Two hundred years ago the death-rate of London 
was eighty per thousand ; under the influence of 
sanitary improvements it has now been reduced to 
twenty-one and one-half per thousand, in spite of 
the enormous growth of the town and the great 
crowding to which many of its people are still sub- 

When the improvement of sewerage was actively 
undertaken in London some twenty-five years ago, 
it was found that the death-rate was so much re¬ 
duced, in some of the worst quarters of the town, 
that if the same reduction could be made universal 
the annual deaths would be twenty-five thousand 
less in London, and one hundred and seventy-seven 
thousand less in England and Wales; or, by another 
view, that the average age at death would be forty- 
eight instead of twenty-nine, as it then was. 

The early registration returns of England de¬ 
veloped the fact that the prevalence of fatal dis¬ 
eases was in the case of some three times, of some 
ten or twenty times, and of others even forty or 
fifty times greater in certain districts than in others, 
and that these diseases raised the mortality of some 



22 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

districts from fifty to a hundred per cent, higher 
than that of other districts, the death-rate of the 
whole country being from thirty to forty per cent, 
above that of its healthiest parts. 

The effect of sanitary improvement has been 
nowhere better shown than in the British navy, 
where in 1779 the death-rate was one in forty-two 
(this of able-bodied, picked men), and the sick 
were two in every five. In 1813, after the means 
and appliances of health had been furnished, the 
death-rate was one in one hundred and forty-three, 
and the sick two in twenty-one. 

Less than a generation ago the idea prevailed that 
it was of doubtful propriety to ask why we are sick, 
and even to this day many believe that such an in¬ 
quiry savors of irreligion. Happily this condition 
of otherwise intelligent minds is passing away. 

While we know, thus far, comparatively little of 
the exact causes of disease, our knowledge at least 
points to certain perfectly well-established truths. 
One of these is that man cannot live in an atmos¬ 
phere that is tainted by exhalations from putrefying 
organic matter, without danger of being made sick 
— sick unto death. It is true that not all of those 
who live in such au atmosphere either fall sick or 
die from its effects ; but it is also true that not all 
who go into battle are shot down. In both cases 
they expose themselves to dangers from which their 
escape is a matter of good fortune. Fewer would 
oe shot if none went into battle, and fewer would 
ihe of disease if none were exposed to poisoned air 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


23 


Our adaptability is great, and we accustom ourselves 
to withstand the attacks of an infected atmosphere 
wonderfully well; but for all that, we are constantly 
in the presence of the danger, and though insensibly 
resisting, are too often insensibly yielding to it. 
Some, with less power to resist, or exposed to a 
stronger poison, or finally weakened by long expos¬ 
ure, fall sick with typhoid fever or some similar 
disease, that springs directly from putrid infection. 
Of these, a portion die; the community loses their 
services, and it sympathizes with their friends in 
mourning that, “ in the wisdom of a kind but in¬ 
scrutable Providence, it has been found necessary to 
remove them from our midst.” 

In this way we blandly impose upon Divine Provi¬ 
dence the responsibility of our own short-comings. 
The victims of typhoid fever die, not by the act 
of God, but by the act of man ; they are poisoned 
to death by infections that are due to man’s igno¬ 
rance or neglect. 

Pettenkofer states that, so far as the city of Mu¬ 
nich is concerned, typhoid epidemics bear in their 
frequency or rarity a certain fixed relation to 
changes in the soil, which can only be surmised, 
but which correspond with the differences of ele¬ 
vation of the water-table, or line of saturation in 
the soil. The greatest mortality coincides with the 
lowest state of the water-table, and the least mor¬ 
tality with the approach of this to the surface of 
th • ground. 


24 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


Fifteen years’ observation showed that the preva¬ 
lence of typhoid was indicated by the water-level in 
the wells. This careful investigator believes that 
the cause of the disease exists not in the water, but 
in the soil; that it is due to certain “ organic proc¬ 
esses ” in the earth. 

The English investigators say that when the water 
in the well is low, its area of drainage is extended, 
and it draws typhoid poison from a greater dis¬ 
tance. 

Neither of these theories is inconsistent with tho 
hypothesis that the disease is due to organic matter 
reaching the soil from house-drains, cess-pools, etc., 
and finally either carried into the well to poison the 
drinking-water to a degree that becomes apparent 
when, during drought, it is reduced to a small quan¬ 
tity, and its impurities are concentrated, or else left 
in the soil after the withdrawal of the water, and 
there exposed in such quantities to the action of the 
permeating air that poisonous gases are generated 
by their decomposition. 

Professor S. W. Johnson, of the Sheffield Scien¬ 
tific School, at Yale College, in a paper on the 
Earth Closet, says : “ The use of open vaults or 
water-closets emptying in cess-pools tends to fill up 
the soil with faecal matter. A single vault poisons a 
circumscribed space around it. External to this 
limit the filth is destroyed by the action of the oxy¬ 
gen of the air, which is the great purifier. Within 
the limit named, the animal matters preponderate 
either constantly or at some period of the year, 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 25 

They may long remain simply disagreeable without 
being dangerous, and may again, of a sudden, in a 
way whose details have as yet escaped investigation, 
become the seed-bed or the nursery of the infection 
that breaks out in fevers and dysentery. The dan¬ 
ger increases as the quantity of filth and the number 
of its receptacles increase. To cover them up does 
not necessarily remove the evil. The putrid mat¬ 
ters soak into the soil, and move upward and down¬ 
ward in it with the motion of the soil-water. When 
we have copious rains, they are carried down per¬ 
haps to nearly the level of the water in our wells. 
In the heat and drought of August, these matters 
rise again. In the absence of rain, the rapid drying 
of the surface creates an upward capillary flow of 
the ground-water. The matters which in rainy 
times follow the surface-water to the depths, in 
drought follow the ground-water to the surface.” 

It is very clear that no system yet applied lias 
been so generally efficient in lessening and weaken¬ 
ing the attacks of typhoid as the English system of 
water supply and impervious drainage, which gives 
drinking-water free from contamination, and leaves 
the air untainted by the decomposition of organic 
matters in the immediate vicinity of dwellings. 

Whether the London theory or the Munich theory 
be correct, the general result of all investigations 
shows that typhoid fever stands in a certain relation 
to the amount of neglected filth permitted to poison 
water and air. 

The Massachusetts Board of Health published in 


26 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


1871 a copious report on the causes of typhoid as 
occurring in that State. It concludes that the prop¬ 
agation of the fever is occasioned by a poison “ as 
definite as that which causes vaccine disease ; ” and 
divides the means of propagation under three heads: 
first, drinking-water made foul by the decomposi¬ 
tion of any organic matter, whether animal or vege¬ 
table, and specially by the presence in such water of 
excrementitious matters discharged from the bodies 
of those suffering from typhoid fever; second, prop¬ 
agation by air contaminated by any form of filth, 
and specially by privies, cess-pools, pig-sties, ma¬ 
nure-heaps, rotten vegetables in cellars, and leaky 
or obstructed drains ; third, emanations from the 
earth, occurring specially in the autumnal months 
and in seasons of drought. 

The agency of tainted water was enunciated by 
Canstatt, in Germany, in 1847, and many later 
medical writers have confirmed the theory. 

So far as Massachusetts towns are concerned, the 
contamination of wells, though a prominent, was 
not found to be a preeminent cause of typhoid ; nu¬ 
merous instances show this to have been active, but 
other causes, such as foul drains, sewer-gas, etc., are 
more important. It appears that the attack is more 
frequently received through the lungs than through 
the intestines. While it may be necessary that a 
marked quantity of impurity should exist in drink¬ 
ing-water before it can do us harm, an extremely 
small proportion of impurity in air is greatly to be 
apprehended, for we drink but a comparatively 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


27 


Bmall amount of water, while we inhale, every 
twenty-four hours, from one to two thousand gal¬ 
lons of air. At the same time, the evidence of the 
communication of disease by tainted drinking water 
is strong and unmistakable, not only in Massachu¬ 
setts, but elsewhere. 

There has recently been an excitement in Lon¬ 
don concerning the condition of town pumps, espe¬ 
cially of the celebrated Aldgate pump in the city, 
which has finally been ordered closed. 

The following quotation, 1 describing the condition 
of this pump, is given in illustration of what has so 
often been said concerning the peculiarly pleasant 
character of well water to the influence of which 
disease has been distinctly traced : — 

“ The purity of the water of Aldgate pump is a 
firmly rooted tradition in the minds of many of the 
citizens, and especially of the poorer denizens of the 
East End. So great a hold, indeed, has this belief, 
that a great many of them consider that a morning 
draught of spring water from Aldgate pump is a 
sovereign remedy for many ailments, and send for 
the water very religiously when they feel 4 out of 
sorts.’ There is much in the flavor and appearance 
of the water which explains this belief. It is clear, 
sparkling, and has that cool saline flavor which is 
so very agreeable to the palate, and which is harm¬ 
less enough when the saline ingredients are not 
accompanied by organic taint. In this case, how¬ 
ever, the analysis which we have had made by Pro- 

1 Sanitary Record. 


28 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

fessor Wanklyn, and of which we last week gave 
the details, shows that this cool refreshing flavor is 
due to the impregnation of the water with salts 
derived from decomposing sewage which evidently 
finds its way into the well, partially filtered and de¬ 
composed by the surrounding soil. The soil itself is 
evidently loaded with organic matter, and does not 
form an efficient filter ; thus the water is polluted 
with a considerable amount of organic matter.” 

Anent this pump, Punch had the following squib 
at the time of the recent panic concerning Turkish 
and Egyptian bonds : — 

“General Shut Up. 

“ (Aldgate pump included.) 

“ O’er ’Change still hangs the fatal spell; 

Clerics and spinsters Turkish sell; 

Egyptian drafts, too, downward jump, 

And none may draw on Aldgate pump.” 

Mr. William Eassie, writing upon the sanitation 
of houses, says : — 

“ The author had occasion lately to suspect, from 
its very sparkling character, the water taken from 
a well in a very healthy looking position, which 
supplied several families and a large dairy, and had 
the water analyzed. Professor Wanklyn’s report 
upon it was that it was absolutely poisonous, and 
then it was found that the constant drinkers of this 
water had long been suffering from a skin disease. 
Inquiry also revealed that a farm steading had for¬ 
merly stood there, and we can guess what these 
used to be in the olden time, and that the subsoil 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 29 

was, therefore, full of impurities. No amount of 
filtering could render water of this kind pure. Fil¬ 
ters can be made useful, without doubt, but even 
they must be examined periodically, and a proper 
material chosen. He had an analysis made of some 
water drawn at the butler’s pantry in a nobleman’s 
house, and it was proved that the filter in use, with 
its impure animal charcoal contents, actually ren¬ 
dered a pure supply from the mains unfit to drink.” 

There is reason to suspect the poison to be some¬ 
times, if not quite generally, odorless, and the dan¬ 
ger seems to be the greatest where the natural 
process of decomposition is secluded from air and 
light. The decay of vegetables in dark and unven¬ 
tilated cellars, and of house wastes or street wash 
in unventilated sewers, are especially to be feared. 

In the town of Pittsfield, when the board of 
health assiduously attended to the removal of all 
nuisances, there was a very decided falling off in 
the number of cases of typhoid fever. 

Derby says : “ Whether the vehicle be drinking- 
water made foul by human excrement, sink drains, 
or soiled clothing, or air made foul in inclosed places 
by drains, decaying vegetables or fish, or old tim¬ 
ber ; or, in open places, by pig-sties, drained ponds 
or reservoirs, stagnant water, or accumulations oi 
filth of every sort, — the one thing present in all 
these circumstances is decomposition.” 

If anything has been clearly proven with refer¬ 
ence to the whole subject, it is that nearly all of 
the causes of typhoid fever are strictly within hu¬ 
man control. 


30 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Dr. Grimshaw regards simple fever as an abortive 
attempt at either typhus or typhoid, the one arising 
from decomposing sewage and the other from over 
crowding, and thus ascribes even slight fevers al¬ 
most invariably to unsanitary conditions. A War¬ 
wickshire medical officer of health firmly believes 
that typhoid is far from wrongly named by Dr. 
Murchison, “ pythogenic,” for that it cannot only 
be fostered, but be produced, de novo , by decom¬ 
posing organic matter, and in most if not all of Dr. 
Armistead’s cases, foul water or other unsanitary 
surroundings appear to have been present in greater 
or less amounts. 

Dr. Benjamin Rush, an eminent physician of the 
last century, was so satisfied that the means of 
preventing pestilential fevers are “ as much under 
the power of human reason and industry as the 
means of preventing the evils of lightning or com¬ 
mon fire,” that he looked for the time when the law 
should punish cities and villages “ for permitting 
any sources of malignant or bilious fevers to exist 
within their jurisdiction.” 

No dense population can hope to escape recurrent 
pestilential diseases, unless the inhabited area is 
kept habitually free from the dejections and other 
organic wastes of the population. 

The instance of the “ Maplewood ” young ladies’ 
school, at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, has been so 
often quoted in sanitary writings during the past 
ten years, that it must seem almost an old story to 
those who are familiar with the literature of the 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


31 


subject; but it is at the same time such a striking 
instance of the possibilities of the evils with which 
we are contending, that it can never lose its in¬ 
terest, and it is to be hoped that it may always 
remain the worst instance of its sort in our coun¬ 
try’s record. 

The house was a large one, built of wood, closely 
surrounded by trees, with a foul barn-yard near it, 
containing water in which swine wallowed, and 
emitting offensive odors. The cellar of the centre 
main building was used for storing vegetables, and 
its private closets connected by closed corridors with 
the main halls of the building. The kitchen drain 
opened eighty or ninety feet away from the build¬ 
ing. The vaults of the private closets were shallow 
and filled nearly to the surface with semi-fluid ma¬ 
terial (they received the slops from the sleeping- 
rooms). The house seems to have been beset with 
danger on every side, and it was often necessary, in 
the heat of summer to close the windows, to keep 
out offensive odors. The whole case was examined 
after the attack by Drs. Palmer, Ford, and Earle, 
of the Berkshire Medical College, and they took, so 
far as possible, the testimony of every member of 
the household and of the relatives of those who had 
died after being removed to their homes. Their 
investigation fixed the origin of the Maplewood 
fever (which was clearly marked typhoid) unques¬ 
tionably upon the unhealthfulness of the air of 
the house, made impure by the causes above spec¬ 
ified. 


32 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

This Maplewood fever is one of the most fatal 
ever recorded. Of seventy-four resident pupils 
heard from, sixty-six, or nearly ninety per cent., 
had illness of some sort, and fifty-one, or nearly 
sixty-nine per cent., had well-marked typhoid fever. 
Of the whole family of one hundred and twelve 
persons, fifty-six had typhoid fever, and of these 
fifty-six, sixteen died. These proportions applied 
to the eight thousand people living in Pittsfield 
would have given four thousand cases of typhoid 
fever within the space of a few weeks, and of these 
eleven hundred and forty would have died. The 
“.utbreak was, however, so entirely local, that some 
physicians in Pittsfield had no cases, and others 
only two or three. The Maplewood fever was a 
sudden explosion. It broke up the school in a very 
short time, and the pupils scattered to their homes, 
where, under the influence of pure air, many recov¬ 
ered. 

Dr. Palmer says of this epidemic, “ Before the in¬ 
vestigation, the matter was spoken of as the act of 
a mysterious Providence, to whose rulings all must 
submit. Looking with the eye of science upon the 
overflowing cess-pools and reeking sewers as inevi¬ 
table causes, and with the eye of humanity upon the 
interesting and innocent victims languishing in pain 
and peril, or moldering in their shrouds, I could but 
regard such implications of Providence, though per¬ 
haps sincerely made, as next to blasphemy, espe¬ 
cially when uttered by the agents who were to be 
held responsible ; — though the prayer of charity 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 33 

might have been, 4 Father, forgive them, they know 
not what they do.’ ” 

The sanitary reforms recommended by the exam¬ 
ining physicians being carried out, Maplewood be 
came, and still remains, free from malarial disease. 

Dr. John L. Leconte, in reporting his inspection 
of a school in Burlington, New Jersey (St. Mary’s 
Hall), where there had been a serious outbreak of 
typhoid, says that the water supply was taken from 
two rain-water cisterns, in building which, as their 
bottoms were below *the level of the soil water, 
a hole was left open to relieve the pressure while 
the cement was hardening. These holes were 
plugged, and the water supply was made to de¬ 
pend entirely upon the river. A year later, the 
plugs were removed, bringing the cisterns into 
communication with the soil water. Some time aft¬ 
erwards, privy vaults were dug, one of them only 
ten or twelve feet from the cisterns, and although 
these were supposed to be tightly made, the soil 
(after three years) became poisoned Avith the efflu¬ 
via and infiltrations, and the water from the cis¬ 
terns became contaminated. The disuse of these 
cisterns was advised on the 18th of December, 1874, 
the water being taken directly from the river. Ten 
days later, the last case of typhoid fever occurred, 
and the school has since that time been quite free 
from all similar diseases. 

Although many of the pupils were attacked, the 
servants escaped entirely, and it was found that 
they had drank no unboiled water, using only tea 


3 


34 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

and coffee. Among the pupils it was found that of 
seven who drank only water, six had been attacked 
with typhoid. 

Dr. Leconte makes the following capital recom¬ 
mendations for the prevention of zymotic dis¬ 
eases : — 

“ 1. Before the plans of the building are fully 
matured, let an expert in sanitary studies be em¬ 
ployed to give directions to the architect in all that 
relates to ventilation, drainage, and water supply. 

“ 2. After the building is* completed, no altera¬ 
tions should be made affecting these three essentials 
of good hygienic condition without the suggestion 
of a practiced sanitarian. 

“ 3. There should be stated inspections, say twice 
a year, of each institution by some sanitarian of ac¬ 
knowledged merit, who, after close examination and 
the correction of any defect, would give a certificate 
to be published in the circular or announcement of 
the school. 

“ 4. On the outbreak of any zymotic disease in 
the institution, the advice of a sanitarian expert 
should at once be obtained, in order that means 
may be taken for its restriction, suppression, and 
prevention.” 

A century ago epidemic diseases carried with 
them only calamity, not culpability; but now, when 
their occurrence is chargeable to willful ignorance 
or to wicked neglect, Dr. Rush’s prophecy should 
be fulfilled and the law should hold the community 
responsible for every death permitted to occur 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 85 

from preventable disease within the area that it 
controls. 

Dr. Anstie, in his “ Notes on Epidemics,” after 
describing the fouling of wells by the escape of cess¬ 
pool matter, and the fouling of the interior air of 
houses by reason of imperfect drain-traps, says : — 

44 In short, all observers arrived at the conclusion 
that it would be possible, by rendering our drinking 
water absolutely pure, and by disinfecting our sew¬ 
age at the earliest moment, entirely, or almost en¬ 
tirely, to suppress typhoid fever.” 

Dr. John Simon, in his Report of 1874 (as medi¬ 
cal officer of health to the Privy Council), says : — 

44 Whether the ferments of disease, if they could 
be isolated in sufficient quantity, would prove them¬ 
selves in any degree odorous, is a point on which no 
guess needs be hazarded ; but it is certain that in 
doses in which they can fatally infect the human 
body they are infinitely out of reach of even, the 
most cultivated sense of smell, and that this sense 
(though its positive warnings are of indispensable 
sanitary service) is not able, except by indirect and 
quite insufficient perceptions, to warn us against 
risks of morbid infection.” 

44 The ferments, so far as we know them, show no 
power of active diffusion in dry air: diffusing in it 
only as they are passively wafted, and then, proba¬ 
bly, if the air be freely open, not carrying their 
ritality far; but, as moisture is their nomal me¬ 
dium, currents of humid air (as from sewers and 


36 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

drains) can doubtless lift them in their full effect¬ 
iveness, and, if into houses or confined exterior 
spaces, then with their chief chances of remaining 
effective ; and ill-ventilated, low-lying localities, if 
unclean as regards the removal of their refuse, may 
especially be expected to have these ferments pres¬ 
ent in their common atmosphere, as well as of 
course teeming in their soil and ground-water. 

“ Medical knowledge in support of this presump¬ 
tion has of late been rapidly growing more positive 
and precise ; and at the moment of my present 
writing, I have the gratification of believing that 
under my Lords , of the Council it has received an 
increase which may be of critical importance, in a 
discovery which seems to give us for the first time 
an ocular test of the contagium of enteric fever : in 
the discovery, namely, of microscopical forms, ap¬ 
parently of the lowest vegetable life, multiplying to 
innumerable swarms in the intestinal tissues of the 
sick, penetrating on the one hand from the mucous 
surface into the general system of the patient, and 
contributing on the other hand, with whatever in¬ 
fective power they represent, to the bowel-contents 
which have presently to pass forth from him. Ad¬ 
verting then summarily, in an administrative point 
of view, to the present state of medical knowledge 
and opinion as to the way in which enteric fever 
spreads its infection in this country, I would say 
that it is difficult to conceive, in regard'to any causa-- 
tion of disease in a civilized community, any phys¬ 
ical picture more loathsome than that which is here 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


37 


suggested ; that apparently, of all the diseases at¬ 
tributable to filth, this, as an administrative scandal, 
may be proclaimed as the very type and quintes¬ 
sence ; that, though sometimes by covert processes 
which I will hereafter explain, yet far oftener in 
the most glaring way, it apparently has an invari¬ 
able source in that which of filth is the filthiest ; 
that apparently its infection runs its course, as with 
successive inoculations from man to man, by instru¬ 
mentality of the molecules of excrement which 
man’s filthiness lets mingle in his air, and food, 
and drink.” 

Dr. Austin Flint says: “ Typhoid fever is very 
rarely if ever communicated by means of emana¬ 
tions from the bodies of patients affected with the 
disease. It does not spread from cases in hospitals 
to fellow-patients, nurses, and medical attendants. 
Isolated cases are numerous, occurring under cir¬ 
cumstances which preclude the possibility 7 " of con¬ 
tagion. Its special cause may be a product of the 
decomposition of collections of human excrement.” 

Dr. Simon, speaking of the action of infective 
matters on the mucous membrane of the intestinal 
canal, says: — 

“ Whether they have been breathed, or drunk, or 
eaten, or sucked up into the blood-vessels from the 
surface of foul sores, or directly injected into blood¬ 
vessels by the physiological experimenter, there pe¬ 
culiarly the effect may be looked for ; just as wine, 
however administered, would 4 get into the head,’ so 
the septic ferment, whencesoever it may have en- 




38 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

tered the blood, is apt to find its way thence to the 
bowels, and there, as universal result, to produce 
diarrhoea.” He believes that typhoid fever is a 
“specific diarrhoea,” and that every discharge from 
the bowels of the patient must teem with the con- 
tagium of the disease. 

Dr. Flint investigated an outbreak of typhoid 
fever in a village in Western New York, in 1843. 
No case of typhoid fever had ever been known in 
the county. The community numbered forty-three 
persons ; twenty-eight of these were attacked with 
fever, and ten died. All of those affected obtained 
their drinking water from a well adjoining the tav¬ 
ern ; but one family, living in the midst of the in¬ 
fected neighborhood, owing to a feud with the 
tavern-keeper, did not use this water, and escaped 
infection. Two families lived too far away to use 
this well. This immunity on the part of the enemy 
of the tavern-keeper led to a charge that he had 
maliciously poisoned the well, a charge which re¬ 
sulted in a suit for slander and the payment of one 
hundred dollars damages. At this time the idea 
that typhoid fever might be communicated by in¬ 
fected drinking-water had not been advanced, but its 
truth receives strong confirmation from the fact that 
a passenger, coming from a town in Massachusetts 
where typhoid prevailed, and traveling westward 
in a stage-coach, having been taken ill, was obliged 
to stop at this tavern. Twenty-eight days after his 
arrival he died of typhoid fever, and thus, dou’ t- 
less, communicated in some way to the water of this 




SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


39 


well the germs of the disease, which speedily at¬ 
tacked every family in the town, except the three 
which did not resort to it for their supply. Dr. 
Flint states it as his opinion that 41 in typhoid fever 
the contagion is in the dejections, and this fever 
may be, and generally is caused by a morbific mat¬ 
ter produced in decomposing excrement from healthy 
bodies.” And he believes that 44 the spontaneous 
occurrence of this disease is to be avoided bv a com- 
plete precaution against the pollution of water or 
air by the dejecta from healthy persons.” 

In the summer vacation of 1874, ten students 
from Oxford went on a reading party to a rural re¬ 
treat in Cornwall, which was recommended as of 
undoubted healthfulness and of quiet seclusion. 
They fell into a fever trap. The water and the 
soil of this village were polluted until it equaled 
the worst slums of Liverpool. Detecting the sani¬ 
tary short-comings of their retiring-place, they beat 
a hasty retreat, but they carried with them the 
germs of the disease, and before many days six of 
the party were down with typhoid fever; one has 
since died. 

Dr. Alfred Haviland gives an instance in which 
in Uppingham, in England, an epidemic of typhoid 
fever originated in a house of the best class: — 

44 Though the house itself in which the fever first 
showed itself is a splendid mansion, the architect 
seems to have altogether forgotten to provide for 
the health of its inmates. Gigantic cess-pools were 
in close relation to the water supply, and every ar- 


40 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


rangement was made for the pollution of the air by 
regurgitation of gases from the water-closet.” 

The local government board of England lately 

deputed Dr. Thorne to investigate an outbreak of 

typhoid at Brierly. He found that the spread of 

the fever was due to the poisonous dejecta of the 

patients. Wherever those dejecta went, poison and 

disease went also. The original case was in the 

person of a dairy-man, and was of a mild type ; but 

it was followed bv two other cases in the same 

«/ 

house, and, by the tainting of the milk vessels, the 
infection was carried to thirty-eight houses in the 
village, in twenty-three of which the fever ap¬ 
peared. From these centres it spread by excre- 
mental contamination until nearly the whole village 
was attacked. Dr. Thorne “ wished it to be dis¬ 
tinctly understood that he by no means attributed 
all the cases occurring to the use of milk from the 
infected dairy; for when once the disease was 
started another powerful means for distributing it 
came into operation ; ” and he proceeds to show a 
very defective condition of the vaults and drains. 
His irresistible conclusion was that the outbreak 
had been due, primarily, to the use of milk from an 
infected dairy, and that bad drainage and bad dis¬ 
posal of excrement had done the rest. 

Dr. Duncan, in his work on typhoid fever, speaks 
of Crossbill, a suburb of Glasgow, where for three 
years preceding 1»75 the average death-rate was 
only seventeen per thousand ; that of the city itself 
during the same period being thirty per thousand, 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 41 

In 1874 there was no death from typhoid in Cross¬ 
hill. From January 18 to April 20, 1875, there 
were twenty-four deaths in connection with this 
epidemic. From January 18, when the epidemic 
began, until March 31, when it ended, there had 
occurred two hundred and eighty cases in Crosshill 
and its neighborhood. This outbreak was distinctly 
traced to milk coming from a farm where the fam¬ 
ily was down with typhoid fever. Dr. Duncan 
attended sixty-eight cases, sixty-four of which could 
be traced directly to the tainted dairy ; the other 
four were smitten late in the epidemic, and had 
been visiting and drinking in infected houses. 

During the autumn of 1874 there was an out¬ 
break of t}rphoid fever in the town of Lewes, about 
four hundred and fifty cases occurring. The town 
is divided into three sections, each having its own 
water supply, and the disease was confined almost 
entirely to the division supplied by the Lewes 
Water Works Company. This company furnished 
an intermittent supply of water, the head being 
turned on for three or four hours in the morning 
and for the same time in the afternoon. When the 
head is taken off, the pipes empty themselves, suck¬ 
ing in air at every opening. Examination showed 
that there were many water-closets, some of them 
used by fever patients, which were supplied by 
pipes leading directly from the water-mains into 
the soil-pan, and that it was a common habit to 
leave the taps open so that the closets should be 
lushed whenever the water was turned on. There 


42 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

were leaks in some of the old mains, and many of 
these were laid in soil fouled with the overflow of 
vaults. In one case a leak was found in a water- 
main where it passed through a sewer. The lead 
service-pipes of houses were frequently honey¬ 
combed, especially in the immediate vicinity of 
vaults, and in one case a leak was found directly 
under a vault. In seeking for this while the water 
was subsiding in the mains, the opening was ex¬ 
posed, and the whole contents of the vault were 
sucked into the water-pipe. In short, on every 
occasion of the subsiding of the water supply, air 
was drawn in violently at every opening, and the 
pipes thus received air contaminated by closets and 
vaults, and air from within a public sewer; indeed, 
in some cases at least, particles of excrement were 
drawn in from closet pans. In one section of the 
town only sixty houses out of a total of four hun¬ 
dred and fifty-four were supplied by the water¬ 
works company, and in this section, with the excep¬ 
tion of two infants, every case of typhoid fever 
occurred in these sixty houses, to the total exclusion 
of the other three hundred and ninety-four. Even 
after the epidemic became rife, and there were 
many other means for its extension, it was found 
that twenty-seven per cent, of the town-water 
houses had been attacked, and only six per cent, of 
all the others. 

There has recently been an investigation into the 
origin of an outbreak of “ filth fever ” in Over- 
Darwen, England, the origin of which for a long 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 43 

time eluded the careful search of the authorities. 
It was finally worked out by a sanitary officer dis¬ 
patched from London. The first case was an im¬ 
ported one, occurring in a house at a considerable 
distance from the town. The patient had con¬ 
tracted the disease, came home, and died with it. 
On first inquiry it was stated that the town derived 
its water supply from a distance, and that the water 
was brought by covered channels and could not 
possibly have been polluted by the excreta from 
this case. Further examination showed that the 
drain of the closet into which the excreta of this 
patient were passed emptied itself through chan¬ 
nels used for the irrigation of a neighboring field. 
The water-main of the town passed through this 
field, and although special precautions had been 
taken to prevent any infiltration of sewage into the 
main, it was found that the concrete had sprung a 
leak and allowed the contents of the drain to be 
sucked freely into the water-pipe. • The poison was 
regularly thrown down the drain, and as regularly 
passed into the water-main of the town. This out¬ 
break had a ferocity that attracted universal atten¬ 
tion ; within a very short period two thousand and 
thirty-five people were attacked, and one hundred 
and four died. The report of this investigation 
closes as follows: “ If an inquest were held on 
every case of death from typhoid fever, as we have 
long contended there should be, a similar relation of 
fatal effect to preventable cause could nearly always 
be traced, and may always safely be presumed.” 


44 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Thus much attention has been given to the sub¬ 
ject of typhoid fever because it is universally rec¬ 
ognized as the typical pythogenic disease, and the 
most prominent of those which are believed to be 
entirely preventable by human agency. 

The recent great prevalence of a very fatal form 
of diphtheria in New York, under conditions which 
seem to connect its origin with the escape of sewer 
gas into houses, brings it conspicuously into the 
same class. 

Two other prevalent scourges, not ascribed to or¬ 
ganic uncleanliness but connected with the question 
of soil-water removal, — consumption and fever and 
ague, — must have a prominent place in any dis¬ 
cussion of sanitary drainage. 

The scientific world has been quick to accept the 
suggestion of Dr. Bowditch, of Boston, that the 
genesis of pulmonary disease seems often to be con¬ 
nected with excessive moisture either arising from a 
wet soil, from a clay subsoil, which is usually a cause 
of damp and cold, from springs breaking out near 
the site of the house, from sluggish drains, damp 
meadows, ponds of water, and other sources of fog 
and atmospheric moisture, or from too close shelter¬ 
ing by trees. To one or more of these causes it is 
now thought that we may ascribe the origin of a 
large proportion of the cases of that painful disease 
which, more than any other, characterizes New 
England. 

Dr. Bowditch says, “ Private investigations in 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


45 


Europe and America have in these later times 
proved that residence on a damp soil brings con¬ 
sumption ; and second that drainage of the wet 
soil of towns tends to lessen the ravages of that 
disease.” 

In 1865-66 the British government instituted an 
examination into the effect of drainage works on 
public health. Twenty-four towns sewered by the 
modern system were examined. “ It appeared that 
while the general death-rate had greatly diminished, 
it was most strikingly evident in the smaller num¬ 
ber of deaths from consumption.” As Bowditch 
has pointed out, the drying of the soil as an inci¬ 
dental effect of sewerage had led to the diminution 
of this disease. 

Those ailments which are caused by the influence 
of stagnant water, or excessive wetness of the soil 
— consumption in its most fatal form being one of 
them — may be much alleviated by the simple re¬ 
moval of the drainage-water, through exactly the 
same process that is employed in farm drainage. 

The connection of fever and ague with soil 
moisture, and with the obstructed decomposition of 
vegetable matter in saturated ground or in moist 
air, is almost universally recognized. 

The improvement resulting from drainage is fully 
attested by wide areas in England, where whole 
neighborhoods have been drained for farming pur¬ 
poses, and where, as a consequence, malarial dis¬ 
eases have entirely disappeared. 

In the report of the Staten Island Improvement 


46 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Commission (1871), it is stated that where the 
foundations of the dwelling and the land about it 
for a certain space have been thoroughly under¬ 
drained, and where considerable foliage interposes 
between such space and any exterior source of ma¬ 
laria, the liability to disease is greatly reduced, and 
there is little danger that fever and ague would be 
contracted by the inmates of such a house, except 
by exposure outside their own grounds. An in¬ 
stance is cited where four adjoining farms, near 
Fresh Kills, were drained. Close to each of these 
farms there has been much malarial disease, but the 
seventy people living on them have had scarcely a 
symptom of it. In another quarter formerly very 
malarial, the occupants of which carried to other 
residences the disease there contracted, those who 
remained after the thorough drainage of the land 
have recovered, and have not suffered at all since ; 
while those who moved to them after their drainage 
have lived there for years without injury. In this 
case as in the first, the neighborhood beyond the 
influence of the under-drains is still highly malarial. 

Pulmonary diseases, especially the early stages of 
consumption ; all continued fevers, especially ty¬ 
phoid fever ; degenerative diseases, such as scrofula 
and cancer; and uterine diseases, both of tissues 
and of function, are stated by the Staten Island 
Commission, to become less severe with the nat¬ 
ural or artificial reduction of the level of the 
ground-moisture. 

The Secretary of the General Board of Health 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


47 


(England) published in 1852 “ Minutes of Informa¬ 
tion, collected in respect to the drainage of the land 
forming the sites of towns, etc.” 

He says: “ When experienced medical officers 
see rows of houses springing up on a foundation of 
deep, retentive clay, inefficiently drained, they fore¬ 
tell the certain appearance among the inhabitants 
of catarrh, rheumatism, scrofula, and other diseases, 
the consequence of an excess of damp, which break 
out more extensively and in severer forms in the 
cottages of the poor, who have scanty means of 
purchasing the larger quantities of fuel, and of ob¬ 
taining the other appliances by which the rich 
partly counteract the effects of dampness. Excess 
of moisture is often rendered visible in the shape of 
mist or fog, particularly towards evening. An in¬ 
telligent medical officer took a member of the san¬ 
itary commission to an elevated spot from which his 
district could be seen. It being in the evening, 
level white mists could be distinguished over a large 
portion of the district. u These mists,” said the 
officer, “ exactly mark out and cover the seats of dis¬ 
eases, for which my attendance is required. Beyond 
these mists, I have rarely any cases to attend, but 
midwifery cases and accidents.” Efficient drainage 
causes the removal, or at least a diminution of such 
mists, and a proportionate abatement of the disease 
generated or aggravated by dampness. 

“ After houses built in the manner described, 
have been inhabited for some time, and especially 
if crowded, fevers of a typhoid type are added to 


48 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

the preceding list of diseases, in consequence of 
emanations from privies and cess-pools. The poi¬ 
sonous gases, the product of decomposing animal and 
vegetable matter, are mixed with the watery vapor 
arising from excessive damp (such vapors being 
now recognized as the vehicle for the diffusion of 
the more subtle noxious gases), and both are in¬ 
haled night and day, by the residents of these un¬ 
wholesome houses. A further consequence of the 
constant inhalation of these noxious gases, which 
have an extremely depressing effect, is inducing the 
habitual use of fermented liquors, ardent spirits, or 
other stimulants, by which a temporary relief from 
the feeling of oppression is obtained.” 

In the English Sanitary Report for 1852, the fol¬ 
lowing propositions are laid down : — 

“ 1. Excess of moisture, even on lands not evi¬ 
dently, wet, is a cause of fogs and damps. 

“ 2. Dampness serves as the medium of convey¬ 
ance, for any decomposing matter that may be 
evolved, and adds to the injurious effect of such 
matter in the air; in other words, the excess of 
moisture may be said to increase or aggravate ex¬ 
cess of impurities in the atmosphere. 

“ 3. The evaporation of the surplus moisture, 
lowers temperature, produces chills, and creates or 
aggravates the sudden and injurious changes of 
temperature, by which health is injured.” 

The copious evidence taken by the Metropolitan 
Sanitary Commission, in 1848, concerning the ef¬ 
fect oi ordinary agricultural land-drainage, as prac- 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


49 


ticed in England, upon the improving llealtlifulnesa 
of men and animals, and upon climate, resulted in 
the production of a vast amount of evidence of the 
most telling character, to review which, even 
briefly, would be impossible in this limited space ; 

i 

but it clearly showed that all the benefits that the 
advocates of land-drainage have claimed for it, had 
already been fully sustained by English experi¬ 
ence. 

The agricultural drainage of the land in and 
about the sites of towns, and the soil-drainage which 
is usually effected, even where no especial provision 
is made for it, by the ordinary works of sewerage, 
has fully demonstrated the sanitary benefit arising 
from the removal of stagnant water, or water of 
saturation, from the soil. The earth acts upon foul 
organic matters much in the same way that charcoal 
would do, having, though in less degree, the same 
sort of capacity for condensing within its pores the 
oxygen needed to consume the products of organic 
decomposition. But no soil can act in this way so 
long as its spaces are filled with water, and in order 
to make it an efficient disinfectant it is necessary to 
withdraw its surplus moisture and thus admit at¬ 
mospheric air within its pores. 

It is now generally believed that in addition to 
the many other evils of excessive soil-moisture, its 
effect in rendering a dwelling-house cold and un¬ 
wholesome is especially marked in encouraging the 
formation of tubercles in consumptive subjects ; and 

the various forms of malarial fever, neuralgia, in- 

4 


50 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

fluenza, dysentery, and diseases of the bowels, are 
thought to be aggravated b} r excess of moisture in 
the soil immediately about human habitations. 

During the past thirty or forty years very large 
contiguous areas have been drained in England for 
agricultural purposes, and an invariable result of 
the improvement has been a great decrease of 
malarial diseases, such as fever and ague and neu¬ 
ralgia. The vast fen-lands of Norfolk, Lincoln¬ 
shire, and Cumber]andshire were formerly the 
seat of very wide-spread diseases of a malarial 
type. Since the drainage of the fens these dis¬ 
eases have become comparatively rare and mild in 
form ; and it is asserted with regard to England 
general^, that such diseases “ have been steadily 
decreasing both in frequency and severity for sev¬ 
eral years ; and this decrease is attributed in nearly 
every case mainly to one cause — improved land- 
drainage.” 

The well-known Mr. James Howard, of Bedford, 
England, says, “ In my own county, ague and 
fever thirty or forty years ago were very common 
in certain villages ; since draining has been carried 
out the former has quite disappeared, and the latter 
has greatly decreased.” 

So far as the question of social prosperity is con¬ 
cerned, it is quite proper to consider the financial 
aspects of the question of health. The body politic 
has perhaps no compassion for the sufferings of the 
poor invalid or the bereaved mourner, but it has a 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 51 

quick and a vital interest in everything affecting its 
worldly prosperity, and the deepest foundation of 
its worldly prosperity lies in the strength and ef¬ 
ficiency of its members. 

Dr. Boardman of Boston, in the sixth annual re¬ 
port of the Massachusetts Board of Health, enters 
into a calculation, based on numerous data, which 
seem to be sufficiently proved. 

In the metropolitan district, including Boston, 
the average loss of time from sickness for each in¬ 
dividual is twenty-four days in the year. In the 
western district, including Berkshire County, the 
loss is about fourteen days ; and the average for the 
whole State is nearly seventeen days for each mem¬ 
ber of the population. This was in 1872; a sim¬ 
ilar computation for the previous eight years shows 
an average of fourteen days for each person. Calcu¬ 
lating the cost of nursing, medical attendance, etc., 
and the loss of time to persons of a productive age, 
he finds that the loss to the State from the sickness 
of working people alone is over fifteen million 
dollars ; and the same computation for the entire 
population would amount to nearly forty million 
dollars. 

Assuming that out of the nineteen persons in 
every thousand who die annually in the whole State 
of Massachusetts, four might be saved by the avoid¬ 
ance of preventable diseases, — and this is certainly 
very low, for it may be reasonably assumed that 
eleven per thousand is the natural death-rate, or 
’die lowest that can be attained, — the following 


52 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

saving to the State would result: the annual mortal¬ 
ity being 26,619 with a death-rate of nineteen per 
one thousand, it would be, with a death-rate of 
fifteen per thousand, 21,015, or an annual saving of 
5,604 lives. Good grounds are given for assuming 
that every death represents a total of 730 days of 
sickness and disability ; the aggregate saving from 
sickness therefore would be 4,090,920 days, which 
would amount to $8,181,840, or for the working 
population alone $3,190,916, which latter sum 
would represent the interest on more than fifty mill¬ 
ion dollars. The practical question then which the 
commonwealth should consider is whether an in¬ 
vestment of fifty million dollars in the improvement 
of the sanitary condition of its population, and in 
their enlightenment as to means for preserving 
health, would result in a reduction of the death- 
rate from nineteen to fifteen. If it would do so, 
then the investment would be a profitable one. 
That it might do this, and even more, is proven by 
English experience, and no one can doubt it who 
will give even casual attention to the degree to 
which human life, in even our best communities, 
whether in town or country, is hourly endangered 
by the unwholesome conditions under which it ex¬ 
ists. 

In every household in which a pronounced case 
of typhoid occurs, it may fairly be assumed that 
the value of the whole family to themselves and to 
ihe community is distinctly lessened ; and the large 
proportion of “ debilitated and weakly ” person? 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


53 


found in all our communities are but half-way vic¬ 
tims struggling against the assaults of foul air and 
contaminated water. Their lives are permanently 
dulled by a malaria they are in part able to with¬ 
stand. 

In this ever-waged battle there are wounded as 
well as killed ; and in England it is recognized that 
“convulsions” and many attacks of nervous ail¬ 
ments are marks of excremental poisoning. 

There are several diseases which are now known 
to indicate more or less definitely unfavorable sani¬ 
tary arrangements, and as the knowledge of hy¬ 
giene extends, other diseases are being added to the 
list. Nervous toothache, neuralgia, scarlet fever, 
cholera, dysentery, diphtheria, cerebro-spinal men¬ 
ingitis, and consumption are among those which are 
either generated by foul air or foul water, or which 
are made worse because of unhealthy surroundings. 

The “New York Medical Record ” of June 19th, 
says, “ It may safely be said that diphtheria, does 
not appear to have any connection with the distri¬ 
bution of the old water-courses of this city ; also 
that a large number of cases have originated, with¬ 
out any suspicion of contact with the diseased mat¬ 
ter in any form, while in some of these instances, 
sanitary defects of a very serious kind, have been 
found in the dwellings, making it highly probable 
that noxious emanations and the like have pro¬ 
duced the disease. It may possibly be due to the 
foul emanations from slaughter-houses, and other 
Auisances, or it may arise from some accident or 


54 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

neglect in one’s own dwelling, where it was sup^ 
posed that every sanitary regulation was vigorously 
enforced. Such might be the explanation of the 
following interesting case : A prominent physician 
of this city was suddenly taken ill of diphtheria, 
and was confined to his room for five days. On re¬ 
covering, and making a careful inspection of his 
premises, he found that in some unknown way the 
soil-pipe carrying the waste from the adjoining 
houses, had burst, letting in upon his cellar-floor, 
a collection of rottenness and filth, that was of the 
most disgusting kind. It is difficult always to be 
able to make a careful examination of the premises 
in this way, but it seems probable that if each case 
of diphtheria were carefully investigated, a large 
number of the so-called idiopathic cases, might be 
traced to some such source. Many similar instances 
probably occur to the mind of most practitioners, 
and there seems to be no reason why such influences 
as these described, should not in many cases be 
causes of diphtheria, just as they may often produce 
typhoid fever, puerperal fever, and erysipelas, — an 
opinion that is beginning to be very generally 
held.” 

The following is taken from the “ Sanitary Rec¬ 
ord ” of March 13, 1875 : — 

“ In consequence of an outbreak of diphtheria in 
Hornsey, Mr. Oakeshott, the medical officer of 
health for the district, instituted inquiries, and 
traced the cause to the escape of sewer-gas into 
houses. The first case occurred to a child attend- 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


55 


ing a small school. The house was disinfected, 
and it was supposed that the disease had been 
stamped out, but several other cases having oc¬ 
curred, the sanitary inspector made a minute exam¬ 
ination, and found that notwithstanding the house 
was generally in a good condition, the drains had 
recently been connected with the main sewer, and 
since then foul smells had been complained of. 
The traps to the sink in the kitchen, where the 
school was held, were defective, and, on measuring 
the velocity of the rush of sewer-gas from the sink, 
he found it to be two to three cubic feet per min¬ 
ute. The room was only about ten feet square. It 
was consequently very bad for the children there, 
and the intensity of the poison rapidly proved 
fatal, as might be expected, but it seemed impossi¬ 
ble that thirty cases could have occurred, through 
these few children who first had the disease. On 
examining the Fortis Green National Schools, Mr. 
Oakeshott and the sani ary inspector found a pit 
at the rear, full of foul soil, the stench being very 
bad. This was quite enough to cause the later 
outbreak. Mr. Forstall, medical officer of health 
of Highgate, who had been referred to, stated that 
in three cases of diphtheria which he attended in one 
family, sewage was found to have percolated under 
the floor. He attributed the outbreak which oc¬ 
curred at Fortis Green, to sewage gas. Great com¬ 
plaints had been made of the foul smells emanating 
from the main sewers; the prevailing opinion being, 
diat the smells were worse since the completion of 


56 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

the drainage scheme, than before ; the evil chiefly 
arising from want of efficient trapping and ventila¬ 
tion of the sewers.” 

Dr. Derby says: “ That an obscure internal cause 
— which, in our ignorance of its nature, is called a 
proneness of disposition to receive the poison — is 
necessary for its development does not affect the 
truth of the fact that without filth the disease is not 

born.The improvement of public health as 

expressed by that unerring guide, the death-rate, 
corresponds with all the means by which air and 
water are kept free from pollution.” 

Typhoid fever is the most conspicuous type of 
the class of zymotic diseases, all of which are clearly 
pythogenic, and none of which can originate under 
conditions fit for proper human habitation. 

A fertile soil or an impervious subsoil is especially 
favorable to typhoid poisoning; while deep gravel 
or sand, well drained, and offering free access to the 
air, are the least so. Rock near the surface is bad 
in the same way that a clay subsoil is bad, so far 
as the foundation of the house is concerned, while 
either rock or gravel may be, and often are, ex¬ 
cellent. Neither is necessarily a certain security 
against the sanitary evils under discussion, for, 
through fissures in the rock and through the porous 
soil there is too often an ingress of polluted water 
from barn-yards, cess-pools, etc., or a spread of 
dampness from adjacent ponds or rivers. 

It is doubtless too early in the education of the 



SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


57 


community in this free country to expect the people 
to submit to the dictation of public authorities as to 
the manner in which they shall construct the foun¬ 
dation of their houses, but the time cannot be far 
distant when the public will assert its right to see 
that walls, foundations, and chimneys are so con¬ 
structed as to preserve the public health —at least 
so far as to require that these important parts of 
home-building are made to conform to the health 
requirements of the situation. 

As a rule, new residents in an unhealthy locality 
are more subject to disease than those who have 
become accustomed to the unfavorable influence ; 
yet when typhoid contagion appears, it attacks first 
those whose systems have been debilitated by the 
insidious influences of foul air or water. 

Malarial evils cannot be counteracted ; they must 
be removed. 

In 1874, an International Sanitary Congress was 
held at Vienna, at which it was unanimously 
affirmed, that there is no agent known which is 
certainly capable of destroying a contagion, and 
that we must look with suspicion, upon the efficacy 
of mere disinfectants. 

A recent writer, discussing the epidemic of 
cholera, in Vienna, during the exhibition year, di¬ 
vides the causes of epidemic diseases, between 
miasms and contagions ; the first being poisonous 
gases ; and the second, germ cells. He states that 
contagion flourishes only where miasm is developed. 
Although this theory lacks scientific demonstration, 


58 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

it is in such close conformity with the results of all 
observation, that it may be taken as true in practi¬ 
cal effect. Whatever may be the character or 
source of an infection, its development and activity 
are always fostered by the presence of decomposing 
matter, producing a miasmatic condition of the air. 

Air, poisoned by stagnant water, in or on the soil, 
or corrupted by emanations from the decomposing 
wastes of human life, whether it originates an in¬ 
fection or not, is quite sure to aggravate any infec¬ 
tion that may already exist. 

Liebermeister says that typhoid fever “ is not 
contagious in the proper sense of the word, for it 
is never transmitted by direct contact. It is not 
purely miasmatic, for external conditions alone are 

not sufficient to produce it.The development 

can take place if the dejections are left to them¬ 
selves, as in dirty linen; but it seems to go on more 
abundantly if the dejections are collected in privies, 
sewers, or ground already saturated with organic 
substances. In this way it can be explained how 
a typhoid patient who comes to a house or region 
previously free from the disease, can establish there 
a focus of infection from which many other persons 

become diseased.When typhoid fever is once 

established in any locality, it may disappear for a 
long time and then suddenly reappear, without the 
introduction of a new case.” 

Again he says : “ From all that has been said, it 
results that the real cause, in our opinion, of every 
epidemic, and of every isolated case of typhoid fever 




SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 59 

is only the specific poison of typhoid fever. All the 
numerous conditions which have been called causes 
are not real causes. If the specific poison is absent, 
every other evil influence may act on the popula¬ 
tion without producing typhoid fever. No matter 
how well a field has been manured, wheat will not 
grow unless wheat has been sown.” In like man¬ 
ner, the poison cannot be propagated unless the 
proper conditions are present, as with wheat, which, 
“ if we sow on rocks, we sow in vain ; ” and so, 
“ besides the presence of typhoid poison, many other 
conditions are necessary to produce typhoid fever.” 
And again : “ The cause of typhoid fever is always 
a specific poison ; if this poison is not received into 
the body, anything else may be produced, but no 
typhoid fever.” 

One naturally argues from circumstances with 
which he is most familiar, and as I have given more 
especial attention to the sanitary short-comings of 
my own town, I take it as an example, believing 
however, that its interior arrangements are not less 
favorable than those of the average of our prosper¬ 
ous country places, and recognizing the important 
fact that its position (on a neck of land hardly a 
mile wide and sloping in one direction to the Atlan¬ 
tic Ocean and in the other to Narragansett Bay, 
without a hill or a forest to intercept the free-blow¬ 
ing winds from every quarter) makes Newport nat¬ 
urally a perfectly salubrious town. The population 
in 1870 was 12,521, the larger number living in a 


60 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

compactly built district facing the west and drained 
into a deep cove of Narragansett Bay. At the 
north and at the south the land is flat, but nearly 
-all of it lies high enough for tolerable drainage. It 
is underlaid with stratified rock, and has a heavy 
clay subsoil interrupted by fissures of gravel sloping 
similarly to the surface of the ground. 

There is no public water supply, and probably a 
large majority of the population drink water from 
wells only, although there are many filtering cis¬ 
terns. Nearly all the houses of well-to-do people 
have the usual plumbing arrangements, which dis¬ 
charge into cisterns or into cess-pools in the ground. 
Some of these drain themselves through the gravel 
streaks of the subsoil, and a very few are absolutely 
tight, so that they require hand emptying. A rude 
sort of sewerage has been attempted here and there, 
laid without system and constructed apparently 
without the least reference to the well-known re¬ 
quirements of all town drains. 

These sewers have the advantage of being at 
every opening so noisomely offensive that persons 
living near them are warned by the odor to keep 
their windows closed when the wind comes from a 
certain direction, and passers-by do not loiter in 
their vicinity. There is less insidious sewer poison¬ 
ing here, as the exhalations are blazoned to the 
dullest sense. Usually where a sewer is available, 
the private cess-pool overflows into it, but in a 
great majority of cases the removal is by hand, with 
carts trundling into the country and making winter 
days and summer nights worse than hideous. 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 61 

If the best winds of heaven did not blow almost 
constantly through our streets, we should probably 
be as badly off as a country town can be, but appar¬ 
ently this free ventilation will for some time con¬ 
tinue to stave off the epidemic that awaits us, and 
which alone probably (here as elsewhere) will be 
able to secure the needed reform. 

With these advantages and disadvantages New¬ 
port had a death-rate in 1863 of 34.16 per thousand 
(even supposing the population not to have in¬ 
creased between 1863 and 1870); a death-rate in 
1873 of 25.76 per thousand, and an average death- 
rate for eleven years ending 1873 of 21.05 per 
thousand. The adjoining town (Middletown) which, 
like Newport, extends quite across the island, with 
a purely rural population of 1,074 persons, had in 
1875 only 9 deaths, being a death-rate of only 8.38. 
Its natural sanitary conditions are by no means 
superior to those of Newport, — which owes its 
shamefully high death-rate only to the lack of in¬ 
telligence with which it allows the accumulation of 
domestic filth to endanger the lives of its people 
and its visitors. 

The town of Worthing, on the south coast of Eng¬ 
land, is probably more nearly like Newport in its 
climate, population, and uses than any other sea- 
coast town with which it can be compared. Like 
Newport, Worthing is more or less a resort for in¬ 
valids and persons seeking a beneficial change of 
air, but unlike Newport it has an excellent and 
abundant supply of pure water, and its drainage 


62 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

is said to be perhaps the most complete in Great 
Britain, every cess-pool and surface drain having 
been suppressed, and a main sewer emptying into 
the sea two miles away. The sanitary effect of this 
difference is shown by the fact that Worthing has 
the lowest death-rate ever recorded —14.5 per 
thousand (during the second quarter of 1874 it was 
only 12.9 per thousand) ; and a death-rate of 14.5 
means an average longevity of nearly sixty-nine years 
for the zvhole population. In 1874 there was only 
one death in Worthing from fever ; this was certi¬ 
fied as enteric (typhoid). It is probably as nearly 
certain as any such speculation can be, that could 
Newport have the simple advantage of a pure water 
supply and the perfect drainage that could so easily 
be given it, its average death-rate could be reduced 
to that of Worthing, causing us an annual saving of 
nearly one third of our deaths, with the enormous 
amount of costly and wearying illness and of debility 
and inefficiency that these deaths imply. Viewed 
in another light, could the questionable reputation 
under which Newport now suffers be replaced by 
one like that of Worthing, it would lead to such a 
growth of “ stranger ” population in summer and in 
winter as would gladden the hearts and overflow 
the coffers of all its eager army of purveyors. 

All English watering places are not equally well 
cared for. In a series of articles describing the 
health of watering places in England we find the 
following statement which is specially recommended 
to the local governments of American sea-side re* 
sorts. 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


63 


“ For the benefit of those of our readers who may 
have little local knowledge of Whitby, it may be 
useful to refer to one or two matters which have a 
direct bearing upon the health of the town. First, 
as to the drainage. It appears almost incredible 
that in any place depending in great measure upon 
its reputation as a health resort, the whole of the 
sewage of a town of more than 13,000 inhabitants 
should be emptied into the harbor ; and yet such is 
still the case with Whitby. The drawback to the 
enjoyment of Whitby, as a watering place, to say 
nothing of its health, arising from the condition of 
the harbor, especially at low water, has attracted 
considerable attention among the visitors during the 
season just ended, as we can aver from personal ex¬ 
perience.” 

In fifteen other watering places described, the 
rate of mortality during 1874, was lower in twelve 
of them than in Whitby which was only exceeded 
by Southport, Falmouth, and Rhyl. 

The degree to which the sanitary question has 
taken hold of the popular mind in England is well 
illustrated by the following, from the “ Sanitary Rec¬ 
ord : ” “ Taunton has been for a long time considered 
to be — by its inhabitants, at least, if not by the 
world at large — ‘ the cleanest town in England ; * 
and Tauntonians are accordingly just now greatly 
concerned on account of the fact that two persons 
in the town have died of typhoid fever; the victims 
being policemen, and the active cause of the fever 
being the presence in the town of a filthy slaughter- 


64 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

house which has not yet secured a sufficient amount 
of attention on the part of the board of health. 
The offending slaughter-house keepers appeared last 
week before the Taunton Bench, on an adjourned 
summons, tardily taken out at the instance of the 
local board of health. These cases of fever have 
attracted an unusual amount of attention, and have 
put Tauntonians 4 quite in a flutter,’ because the 
reputation of their town for general salubrity and 
exemption from fevers has hitherto been untar¬ 
nished.” When shall we see the day when two 
deaths from typhoid in a large town in America 
will put its people 4 quite in a flutter ? * 

Nor are our cities better provided with sanitary 
appliances than our smaller towns. Even Boston, 
which congratulates itself on its refinement and 
civilization, is assiduously planting the seeds of 
future trouble. 

The newer parts of the city, especially the dis¬ 
trict toward the Mill-dam, may serve as a very 
good illustration of what it is possible to do in the 
way of providing unfit habitations. The annoyances 
caused by the imperfect sewerage of this district 
have long been a ground of complaint even among 
persons who would accept the ordinarily defective 
drainage of higher-lying town-districts as quite sat¬ 
isfactory. 

In this case the remedy though radical is simple, 
and it would be much less costly than would be 
supposed by those who are not acquainted with the 
artificial pumping system largely in use in England 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


65 


Indeed, this district is especially well adapted for 
such drainage, for the reason that all its houses are 
occupied by a class who use water very liberally, so 
that there need be no fear that there would not be 
an ample flow to remove all solid matter reaching 
property made drains. 

All street-wash and the rain-water falling on the 
roofs, court-yards, etc. (beyond what would be 
needed for occasional flushing of the house sewers), 
may be removed by surface gutters or by a system 
of shallow drains discharging into Massachusetts 
Bay, and flushed, whenever needed, by water ad¬ 
mitted to a flushing reservoir from Charles River 
at high tide. The house drainage itself should be 
disposed of through an independent system of small 
sewers laid at least three feet below the level of the 
lowest cellars, collected at one point and lifted by 
steam power into the sewer leading to Massachu¬ 
setts Bay. Nothing but the fact that it is sur¬ 
rounded by wide stretches of water and great areas 
of unoccupied land could account for the preserva¬ 
tion of the city in a state of even tolerable health¬ 
fulness, in the face of the circumstance that the 
water system is only partially introduced, and that 
one half of its night-soil, or about five thousand 
cords per annum, is still removed by carts : and it 
should be borne in mind that this five thousand 
cords is only what has been retained in the vaults 
after enormous volumes of its liquid parts have 
soaked away into a soil covered with a dense popu¬ 
lation. 


5 


66 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Reference Las been made to the fact that there is 
often less danger from impure well-water than from 
impure air, and some of the Massachusetts investi¬ 
gations indicate that in that State contaminated 
wells are not a very prominent source of infection. 
At the same time, the fouling of well-water by or¬ 
ganic impurities is a very frequent source of fatal 
disease, and probably the reason why it does not ap¬ 
pear relatively more serious in Massachusetts is that 
so much of the soil of that State is of a light char¬ 
acter to a very great depth, there being less lateral 
movement of excessive soil-moisture than where 
strata of hardpan, or impervious soil, and seams in 
stratified rocks are more prevalent. 

The reason why well-water is often bad and un¬ 
wholesome is, in plain English, because sink-drains 
and vaults empty their foul contents into it. A well 
may be good for a long time and subsequently be¬ 
come poisoned, because the soil lying between the 
source of the impurity and the well itself has a cer¬ 
tain amount of cleansing power. While this is 
effective, every impurity is withheld, but by degrees 
the soil becomes foul farther and farther on, until at 
last there is no grain of uncorrupted earth to stand 
between the sink and our only source of the pure 
water without which we cannot live in health. 

The well is in effect a deeper drain, toward which 
the water from the surrounding earth finds its way, 
and in time, as impurities will follow water to any 
outlet unless the filter that holds them back remains 
always active, the foulness of the earth within the 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 67 

drawing range of the well is carried into the water, 
which it renders unfit for human use. 

In 1847 typhoid fever broke out nearly at once 
in the thirteen houses of a single terrace in Clifton, 
England, which took their drinking-water from a 
certain well. Other houses in the same terrace es¬ 
caped entirely, and it was found on investigation 
that in every house supplied from the well in ques¬ 
tion the disease was severe, while in no other house 
of the terrace did it appear. The infected houses 
were considerably scattered, and the only connect¬ 
ing link between the inmates was the use of the 
same drinking-water. 

A very striking case in point which occurred in 
Williamstown, Massachusetts, was well and skill¬ 
fully investigated. A house-drain became choked, 
and its contents mingled with those of a field-drain 
that was near a well. The season was wet, the 
ground was thoroughly saturated, and the surface 
water oozed into the well. The house was a board¬ 
ing-house, with from thirty to thirty-five persons, 
mostly students, at table. Within two weeks most 
of the boarders were affected, and twenty or more 
of the students fell sick. At this time there was 
one case of typhoid fever in town, and this patient 
had been removed from his lodgings in the college 
to this boarding-house, where, probably by means 
of the escape of his dejections from the imperfect 
drain, his disease was communicated through the 
water of the well to all or nearly all of those who 
drank the water unboiled. Those who drank no 


68 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

cold water escaped : but a family in an adjoining 
house supplied from the same well were attacked, 
except one member who habitually drank no cold 
water. All who drank that water unboiled had the 
disease; all who avoided it in that state escaped. 

Dr. Stephen Smith describes a visit to a country 
clergyman, a former schoolmate, who told him of a 
family, five of the members of which had died, 
while another was then fatally sick with typhoid 
fever; and lie had not thought of attributing it to 
anything else but a “ visitation of Providence.” 
An investigation showed that during a busy har¬ 
vest the valve of the pump had got out of order, 
and there being no time to replace it, water had 
been taken from a brook which received, higher up, 
surface water and the drainage from several barn¬ 
yards. Of the entire family but two escaped at¬ 
tack, and they had not used the water. 

The Broad Street pump in London is now fa* 
mous in the annals of epidemics. During the 
cholera visitation in 1848-49, it killed five hundred 
persons in a single week. And many of the better 
classes, who fled the town and went to reside five 
miles farther up the Thames, were there attacked 
with cholera, it being found that they had been in 
the habit of sending to the Broad Street pump for 
their tea-water. 

Having been instrumental in introducing the 
dry-earth system of sewerage into this country, it is 
proper for me to say here that my faith in the abil 


SANITARY RELATIONS OF DRAINAGE. 


69 


ity of that system to accomplish all that it has ever 
promised remains unabated, and that, under cir¬ 
cumstances where its application is practically fea¬ 
sible, I should never recommend water sewerage; 
yet, in the present state of its development, it is so 
inapplicable to a large majority of cases, or so dis¬ 
tasteful to a mass of persons whose necessities de¬ 
mand immediate relief, that, without in any way 
receding from its advocacy (to which a later chap¬ 
ter of this book is devoted), I freely acknowledge 
that the practical good which is to come of early 
sanitary reform is to be sought through other 
means. 

The drawback, so far as towns are concerned, lies 
in the inability of this system to deal satisfactorily 
with copious amounts of water. Twenty-five gal¬ 
lons of waste running from a kitchen sink would 
require for its absorption from four hundred to five 
hundred pounds of earth. Still, earth sewerage 
can be perfectly depended on in village and rural 
establishments where there is a sufficient amount of 
lawn or garden to absorb the waste by underground 
irrigation; such irrigation beginning at a point 
sufficiently far from the house or the well. Dis¬ 
posed of in this way, and made to feed a vigorous 
vegetation, all of the liquid waters of the house 
may be safely treated in a small lawn or garden. 

The evidence as to the sanitary completeness of 
this system is all as conclusive as the following re¬ 
cent report from a very unhealthy quarter: Before 
1868, dysentery and fever were very prevalent in 


70 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

the convict-prison of Labuan, Borneo, and the old 
system of water-closets and cess-pits was abol¬ 
ished, earth-closets being substituted. Hereupon 
the sickness and mortality declined. In 1870 a 
great mortality broke out among the troops of the 
station, and a government inquiry developed the 
fact that in the barracks, where the earth system 
had been neglected, thirty per cent, of the troops 
died per annum ; the deaths in the prison, where it 
had been assiduously used, amounted to but two 
per cent. In Sierra Leone, where the commanding 
officer had taken efficient measures to provide 
earth-closets for the troops, the health of the offi¬ 
cers and men was maintained “ at the very time 
when fever and dysentery were carrying off twenty 
per cent, per annum of the European population 
residing in the town.” 

A novel system of sewerage by pneumatic action, 
invented a few years ago by a Dutch engineer 
named Liernur, has been introduced on a large 
scale in parts of Amsterdam, Leyden, and other 
towns of Holland, and is now being much discussed 
by those interested in sanitary matters in England. 
The accounts given of the success of this method, 
of the entire absence of odor in all its processes, 
and of the complete saving for agricultural use of 
almost every part of the household waste, indicate 
that it is most efficient, economical, and admirable. 
The Pneumatic System is treated more fully in sub- 
sequent chapters. 


CHAPTER II. 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 

“ The house is the unit of sanitary administration.** 

W HATEVER means may be adopted by the board 
of health of town or village for the removal of the 
wastes incident to the life of its population ; what¬ 
ever facilities for such removal may be offered by 
the natural surroundings of isolated country houses; 
and whatever the public or the individual may do 
toward rendering the natural character of the 
ground dry and salubrious, the first aim of the 
householder himself should be to secure a perfect 
means for carrying safely beyond the walls of his 
domicile everything of a dangerous character that 
is generated or produced within it, and to secure his 
living-rooms against the entrance of any manner 
of foul air, impure water, or excessive dampness. 

It would not be possible here to consider the very 
great variety of circumstances attending the loca¬ 
tion and arrangement of different houses. It will 
suffice for our general purposes to assume that all 
liquid or semi-liquid drainage from the house 
is to be delivered either into a public sewer, into 
a private place of deposit, or directly into a nat¬ 
ural water-course. If we arrange a safe means for 


72 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

discharging our outflows at a sufficient distance 
into one or other of these, for the exclusion from 
the house of gas arising from their decomposition, 
for preventing filtration from them into the source 
of our domestic water and for excluding soil-damp¬ 
ness, we shall, so far as exterior surroundings are 
concerned, accomplish the most important aim. 
General rules and principles, of which the mod¬ 
ifications needed in particular cases will quite nat¬ 
urally suggest themselves, are all that can here be 
given. 

The individual householder has these problems to 
solve : — 

1. To secure his house against excessive damp in 
its walls, in its cellar, and, where practicable, in its 
s u rrou n d i n g at m ospliere. 

2. To provide for the perfect and instant re¬ 
moval of all manner of fluid or semi-fluid organic 
wastes. 

3. To provide a sufficient supply of pure water 
for domestic use. 

4. To guard against the evils arising from the 
decomposition of organic matter in or under the 
house. 

5. To remove all sources of offense and danger 
which may affect the atmosphere about the house. 

6. (And almost more important than all the 
rest.) To prevent the insidious entrance into the 
house, through communications with the sewer, cess¬ 
pool, or vault, of poisonous gases resulting from the 
decomposition of the refuse of his own household, 



THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 73 

or of other households with which a common sewer 
or drain may bring him into communication. 

The first item implies a dry cellar, an impervious 
foundation wall, and, if the soil be heavy and liable 
to be wet, or if it be underlaid too closely with 
rock or clay, “ thorough drainage,” of the sort 
employed in the agricultural improvement of land. 
So far as this matter of drainage is concerned, it 
will suffice to refer to the well-known works on 
agricultural drainage ; but the drying of the cellar 
and foundation receives so little attention at the 
hands of both owners and architects, that explicit 
directions seem advisable. If the house is founded 
on well-drained gravel or on a dry bed of sand 
(which is the best of all foundations) no further 
draining will be necessary; but even here it is 
always advisable to cover the floor of the cellar 
with an impervious concrete, to prevent the exhala¬ 
tion of moisture that arises from even the dryest 
soil ; and in all cases where the foundation wall is 
not built with hard and impervious stone, it should 
be furnished with a course of some impervious 
material, whether hydraulic cement, asphalted brick, 
bluestone, slate laid in cement, or sheet-lead. An 
excellent asphalt for an impervious course in the 
foundation of houses is made of two parts of coal 
tar and one part of pitch with three handfuls of 
quicklime to each bucketful. Even with this precau¬ 
tion, if the foundation wall below the impervious 
course is of brick or soft stone, the inner surface of 
the wall should be well washed with pure hydrau- 


74 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

lie cement, which will lessen the escape of the 
moisture that penetrates the stones during driving 
rain-storms, or soaks into them from the earth. 

If the ground is at all inclined, even in the wet¬ 
test seasons, to be wet or springy, whatever other 
precautions are taken, a drain should be laid all 
round the cellar inside of the wall, and at least a 
foot lower than its lowest bed-stone, and carried 
away to a free and sufficient outlet. This drain 
may be made of gravel or broken stones, but or¬ 
dinary land-drainage tile with open joints is usually 
cheaper and always better, especially as preventing 
the ingress of vermin. For the largest private 
house, the smallest-sized land-drain tile will be suf¬ 
ficient. If the soil is unduly wet, at any season, 
similar drains should cross the cellar at intervals of 
not more than fifteen feet. All of these drains 
should have a slight but continuous fall toward the 
outlet, and should be securely covered by having 
earth well rammed over them, the whole cellar 
bottom being then coated with concrete. For small 
houses, where cobble-stones or gravel are plenty, if 
the foundation rests on a layer of this porous mate¬ 
rial a foot or more deep, and if a good outlet 
be provided at the lowest point, the tile is not 
needful. 

The complete drainage of the house, that is, the 
instant removal of the impurities incident to human 
life, is the crowning work of the whole system of 
sewerage. In towns, street drains, main sewers 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


75 


outlets, and the whole paraphernalia of the system 
have for their main purpose the furtherance of the 
ultimate object of the sanitary drainage of the 
house ; and the effect of sewerage on the health 
and decency of the population must depend very 
much upon the manner in which each house is pro¬ 
vided with the necessary drainage system and is 
connected with the public sewer. 

In the country, whatever the final means of re¬ 
moval, the house drainage, whether partial or com¬ 
plete, must be equally guarded. If there is only a 
kitchen drain, this should be perfectly well made 
and arranged. 

When we consider its immediate proximity to 
the windows of the room in which the family of 
the average farmer passes most of its time, the 
kitchen drain probably heads the list of all the 
agents by which our ingenious people violate the 
universal sanitary law; and it doubtless carries 
more victims to the grave than do all other sources 
of defilement combined; for with an enormous ma¬ 
jority of our population this one pipe still repre¬ 
sents the whole drainage of the house. 

Receiving daily supplies of organic matter ready 
to pass into dangerous decomposition, drenched 
with sufficient water to soak far into the ground, 
and kept warm enough for putrefaction to proceed 
rapidly throughout a large part of the year; send¬ 
ing its exhalations into the kitchen and living-room 
windows, and with a favorable summer breeze 
throughout the whole house; and leaking, too often, 


76 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

through a light surface soil, or through a porous 
stratum in a clay soil, into the adjacent well; it at¬ 
tacks the family through the lungs and through the 
stomach with an almost unremitted assault, soon 
achieving, in the case of those who live mainly in 
close, stove-heated rooms and sleep on the ground 
floor with a window opening over the back-yard, its 
various measures of debility, disease, or death. 

No house drain can be made which may not 
be carelessly obstructed by the admission of sub¬ 
stances for which it is not intended. Shedd enu¬ 
merates, among the articles that have been found 
in such drains, “ sand, shavings, sticks, coal, bones, 
garbage, bottles, spoons, knives, forks, apples, po¬ 
tatoes, hay, shirts, towels, stockings, floor-cloths, 
broken crockery,” etc. 

House drains in towns should of course be laid 
at the expense of the owner; but, as they are a 
part of the system by which the health of the com¬ 
munity is to be protected, and as the obstruction of 
a single house drain may establish a centre of in¬ 
fection for a large district, the work should be done 
in accordance with an established rule and under 
the immediate supervision of an engineer having 
charge of sewerage work. 

The main outlet drain from a house may be 
small, and even for the largest private dwelling 
need not be more than four inches in diameter, if 
proper precaution is taken to prevent its being 
choked by the accumulation of kitchen grease; 
while, without such precaution, were it even a foot 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


77 


in diameter, this same influence would cause it to 
be ultimately obstructed by gradual accumulation. 
In other words, with a proper grease trap, a four- 
inch drain will furnish an ample outlet, while with¬ 
out such grease trap no drain can be relied upon to 
remain permanently effective. 

There are various forms of grease trap, some 
with open gullies for ventilation at the surface of 
the ground, and all of them depending upon the 
congealing of the grease and its accumulation at 
the surface of water which has its outlet at a point 
below the surface. 



pose of all house drains, whether a wooden pipe 
from the kitchen sink, or the soil pipe of a house 
fitted with all the modern plumbing appliances. It 
is this part of the work that first suggests itself 
when the question of house drainage arises, and it 
is too often to this only that attention is given. 

The water-closet, owing to its convenience and 
seeming cleanliness, has made its way to almost 
universal adoption, in spite of a very serious defect 
which is generally disregarded, and, indeed, unrec¬ 
ognized. This defect consists in the use of an un- 
ventilated chamber between the sealing-pan and 
the water trap of the soil pipe, — a chamber that 
is always more or less foul, and where faecal gases 
are constantly generated No means are provided, 
and no perfect means could be provided, for the 
removal of these gases, which are sure to find their 
way more or less into the atmosphere of the house, 


78 SANITARY drainage: of houses and towns. 

if only by transmission through the water seal. 
Persons living in the country think that they can 
always detect the odor of the closet on entering a 
city house, and this odor is very often due to the 
cause here indicated. It is only very recently that 
inventions (the Jennings closet, and later, Smith’s 
closet) have been made which entirely overcome 
this defect ; although several other forms of closet 
using large volumes of water and not depending 
upon a tilting pan for their sealing seem to es¬ 
cape it. 

Some of the minor devices of modern plumbing 
seem as objectionable as they are convenient: for 
example, the ordinary fixed wash-basin having a 
plug at its bottom effects a complete separation be¬ 
tween the water in the basin and the foul, soap- 
slimed escape pipe below it; but the more conven¬ 
ient shut-off cock placed some distance below the 
basin is a most ingenious arrangement for tainting 
the water in the basin, which is in free communica¬ 
tion with the water in the unclean escape pipe. 
How readily impurities are diffused through still 
water is shown by the rapid clouding of the con¬ 
tents of a tumbler to which a used tooth-brush has 
been returned; the invisible solution from an un¬ 
clean waste pipe spreads with equal ease. 

It is now quite usual, also, to ventilate the lower 
chamber of the ordinary water-closet, and this is to 
a certain extent effective for the purpose intended; 
but it does not accomplish a proper ventilation of 
the soil pipe, and it alone should by no means be 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


79 


depended on. Indeed, this lower chamber is always 
objectionable, sending forth such a whiff of fetid 
air, whenever the water pan is emptied, as could 
come only from a confined, dark, and wet vessel 
where the most offensive matters are undergoing 
decomposition. The cheap and simple siphon-closet, 
with a copious flow of water, or, better, the Jennings 
closet, with Blunt’s overflow, or Smith’s closet with 
heated ventilator, are types of the only satisfactory 
forms. 

In the country and in villages, where each house 
has to be provided not only with the ordinary inte¬ 
rior arrangements, but also with means for the dis¬ 
posal of its drainage after this has passed beyond its 
own walls, a serious further difficulty arises. The 
usual practice, where plumbing is introduced, and 
very often where only the water of the kitchen drain 
is to be provided for, is to discharge the whole mass 
into a cess-pool not very far away, and often very 
near to the well, trusting to the permeability of the 
earth to afford an outlet through the uncemented 
wall. The objections to this have been sufficiently 
stated, and the remedy is not in all cases an easy one. 

There is no royal road of escape from the respon¬ 
sibility that the production of effete matters entails 
upon us. If they can be run by a cemented drain 
into a water-course, or elsewhere, far enough away 
from human habitations to be unobjectionable, this 
course may be allowed; but in the great majority of 
instances it is absolutely necessary to provide for 
their defoecation in some inoffensive manner or for 


80 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

their inoffensive removal by carts to the country. 
The one thing that should never be allowed in a vil¬ 
lage, and which should even be regarded with great 
caution in the case of an isolated house, is the ordi¬ 
nary leaching cess-pool. 

The importance of a close attention to the details 
of household drainage cannot be overestimated. In 
a paper on the Health of the Farmers of Massachu¬ 
setts, Dr. Adams of Pittsfield says: “There is no 
dwelling in the State, of any class, which possesses 
an absolute immunity from these causes” (the vicin¬ 
ity of putrescent animal and vegetable matter); 
“for they are often so hidden and subtile as to elude 
the search not only of the landlord, but also of the 
most vigilant health officer.” 

The securing of pure drinking-water for the 
household,can hardly claim full attention here, ex¬ 
cept so far as drinking-water wells are concerned ; 
although the extent to which water coming from 
public works is contaminated by an injudicious ar¬ 
rangement of supply pipes and soil pipes is often 
alarming, as was suggested in the preceding chap¬ 
ter. 

Quite generally, country houses and houses in 
villages and towns depend entirely upon drinking- 
water wells for their supply, and the degree to 
which these wells are rendered dangerous by what 
is called “surface water”—that is, rain-water pass¬ 
ing over or through a surface soil made foul by 
house slops, kitchen refuse, etc. — is more than 
alarming. The purity of the water in any well de- 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


81 


pends almost entirely on the ability of the earth 
through which it descends to deprive it, by filtra¬ 
tion, of its organic impurities. It is always a ques¬ 
tion between the amount and character of the filter¬ 
ing material, and the amount and character of the 
impurity. In a deep, porous soil, where the water- 
table lies at a great depth, and where the rain-water 
descends vertically to the line of saturation below, 
there is little danger, unless the grossest fouling of 
the surface in the immediate vicinity is constant 
and long-continued; but where the water level is 
near the surface of the ground, where the soil has 
an impervious stratum a few feet below the surface, 
or where the well is supplied through rock fissures 
or gravel seams which open near to the surface of 
the earth, the most scrupulous cleanliness is needed 
to prevent contamination. 

Fresh earth is a capital purifying filter, and the 
rapidity with which its filtering power is renewed 
depends upon the freedom with which air circulates 
within it, the purification being in nearly all cases 
a process of oxidation. In a deep and porous soil, 
as the water of a rain-storm settles away, it is im¬ 
mediately followed by the entrance of air from the 
surface, and the oxidation may be complete; but in 
clay and in other impervious soils, the entrance of 
air being much more slow and difficult, the impuri¬ 
ties accumulate and the foulness increases and too 
often becomes permanent. In soil of this character 
the curbing of the well should be laid in cement for 

some distance below the surface, and wet clay should 

6 


82 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

be closely puddled round the curbing, to prevent 
the trickling down of water between this and the 
solid earth. The greater the distance between the 
surface of the ground and the point at which water 
first oozes from the earth into the well, the greater 
the safety. 

The above refers only to the fouling of wells by 
the leaching down of impurities thrown upon or 
accumulating in the surface soil. A much more fre¬ 
quent and much more serious source of mischief is 
their contamination by foul water leaking from 
badly made house drains or flowing laterally from 
cess-pools or vaults, — our own or our near or dis¬ 
tant neighbors’, — or the trickling down through 
gravel seams in heavy soils or porous fissures in rock 
of the surface liquid of adjacent or remote barn¬ 
yards. When porous strata in rock or earth bring 
the site of the cess-pool into communication with 
the site of the well, the danger is immediate and 
constant until the cess-pool is made absolutely tight. 

The more insidious process is that of the gradual 
fouling of the semi-porous earth lying between the 
source of the impurity and the drinking-water well. 
In such cases the exudation is usually quite or nearly 
constant; there is little opportunity for the air to 
restore the filtering power of the soil, and it becomes 
saturated with impurity inch by inch, until, perhaps 
after a month or perhaps after several years, the sat¬ 
uration reaches the well; then every drop oozing in 
from this source carries with it its atom of filth. 
While the supply of water in the ground is copious, 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


83 


and while there is more or less circulation through 
the water veins, the foulness may be too much 
diluted to do harm ; but in dry seasons, when the 
supply recedes to a depth of only a few feet at the 
bottom of the well, the contribution of drain water 
continuing the same, the dose becomes sufficient to 
produce its poisonous effect. 

The dangerous character of the water of such 
wells, is often manifested by no odor or taste of 
organic matter; the chemical changes in this mat¬ 
ter seem to have been carried so far, as to yield 
little more than vivifying nitrates to the water, 
their organic character having entirely disappeared. 
Indeed, some of the most dangerous well-waters, 
are especially sparkling and refreshing to the taste. 
But the chemical processes which have effected this 
change, appear to have had no effect on the germs 
of disease — if germs they be — which retain their 
injurious character to such a degree, that the worst 
results have often come from the use of water that 
was especially sparkling and pleasant as a bever¬ 
age. 

The bad effects of organic decomposition, are 
nowhere more manifest than when it takes place in 
an unventilated cellar. 

That large part of the American people who 
were born and bred in the country, will appreciate 
the following quotation from Judge French, describ¬ 
ing childhood's experiences with New England cel¬ 
lars : “ You creep part way down the cellar-staira, 


84 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

with only the light of a single tallow-candle, and 
behold by its dim glimmer an expanse of dark 
water boundless as the sea. On its surface, in dire 
confusion, float barrels and boxes, butter-firkins, 
wash-tubs, boards, planks, hoops and staves, with¬ 
out number, interspersed with apples, turnips, and 
cabbages, while half-drowned rats and mice, scram¬ 
bling up the stair-way for dear life, drive you 
affrighted back to the kitchen.” This will seem to 
many like exaggeration, but probably throughout 
all America, one half of the population which lives 
over cellars at all, lives over cellars which, at some 
time during the year, approach the condition de¬ 
scribed. 

All this nastiness and wet and confined moldi¬ 
ness and stagnation, must inevitably foul the air of 
the whole house, rendering it impure to a degree 
that makes us wonder how human beings, if they 
can live at all, can live in even tolerable health in 
such abodes. 

A medical correspondent of the Massachusetts 
Board of Health, gives an account of the cellar of 
a house in Hadley, built by a clergyman, which 
had an uncovered well within it, and into which a 
sink drain with its deposit-box had full opportunity 
to discharge its gases, there being no proper venti¬ 
lation to the drain or box. The cellar was also 
used for the storage of vegetables, and its windows 
were never taken out. There was no escape for 
the damp and foul air of the cellar, save through 
the crevices of the floors into the rooms above. 






THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


85 


“ After a few months’ residence in the house, the 
minister's wife died, of fever, so far as I can learn. 
He soon married again, and within one year of the 
death of the first wife the second died, from, as I 
understand, the same disease. His children were 
also sick. He lived in the house about two years. 

The next occupant was a man named B-. His 

wife was desperately sick. A physician then took 
the house. He manned, and his wife died of the 
fever. Another physician was the next occupant, 
and he, within a few months, came near dying of 
erysipelas. All this time matters had remained as 
before described, with reference to ventilation.” 
After this a school-teacher took the house, and made 
some unimportant changes. “ The sickness and 
the fatality of the property became so marked, that 
the property became unsalable. When last sold, 
every sort of prediction was made as to the risk of 
occupancy, but by a thorough attention to sanitary 
conditions, no such risks have been encountered.” 

It is hardly necessary to recur to extreme in¬ 
stances of cellar foulness, such as those above de¬ 
scribed, to convince any person of ordinary in¬ 
telligence that in a confined and dimly-lighted 
atmosphere, like that of an ordinary cellar, all de¬ 
composition of organic matter must result in the 
production of gases unfit for human breathing. 

We especially need a condition of air, that can 
be maintained only under the influence of light and 
free ventilation. The great difficulty with our cel¬ 
lars is, that as they have a more or less complete 



86 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

communication with the house through open doors, 
imperfectly laid floors, etc., and as the law of the 
transfusion of gases is constantly operating even 
though the means of communication may be im¬ 
perfect, their unceasing tendency day and night is 
to communicate their impurities to the air of the 
house. Where floors are deafened and where the 
ceiling of the cellar is lath-and-plastered, the dan¬ 
ger is much less than where there is only a single 
thickness of boards with imperfect joints to check 
the communication ; but no matter how perfect the 
separation may be, everything like the decomposi¬ 
tion of vegetable or animal matter should be studi¬ 
ously avoided, and there should be at all times a 
free (though slight) circulation of air in the cellar. 

To live in a house standing amid offensive and 
dangerous surroundings, is under no circumstances 
either necessary or excusable. It has been well 
said, that no man is so poor that he need have his 
pig-trough at his front door, or that he need throw 
his slops under his dining-room window. No place 
is so small that it need contain a fermenting man¬ 
ure heap, within dangerous proximity to the house ; 
either the fermentation must be arrested, or the 
accumulation must be entirely avoided. No yard 
is so flat that the slops of the house may not be 
drained away to a sufficient distance for safety. In 
short, there are in this world no circumstances unfit 
for wholesome living, which may not be either over¬ 
come or run away from. 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 87 

To live wrongly is a clanger and a disgrace to the 
individual. To permit such wrong living is more 
than a danger and a disgrace to the community ; . 
it is a criminal menace to its own health and life. 
No special rules and regulations need be given here 
for the avoidance of palpable sources of danger ; 
all that is necessary is studiously to avoid the re¬ 
tention of accumulations of organic filth of what¬ 
ever description. 

In the living of every family there is a certain 
necessary production of waste organic matter. In 
the economy of nature all such waste is destined 
to return to its elementary condition and to become 
a part of the air or soil or sea, awaiting its renewed 
use in feeding plant life. Man has learned how to 
avail himself of nature’s organic products to supply 
his demand for food and clothing. He seems not 
yet to have learned how to hand back to the realm 
of nature the refuse that is not useful to him, in 
such a way as to avoid the injury with which its 
neglect threatens him. Were each man dependent 
only on the conditions in and about his own house, 
it would be safer than it now is to leave the needed 
reformation to individual action ; but unfortunately 
all in the community are dependent for life and 
health more completely than they realize on the 
condition and surroundings of their poorest and 
most ignorant neighbor. 

The public has long asserted and exercised its 
right to abate nuisances, but its definition of the 
term “nuisance” begins at a point far removed 


88 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

from the stricter sanitary limit. Our communities 
seem not yet to realize that they have a clear right 
to the health and strength of their individual mem¬ 
bers, and especially to insist that no man shall, by 
incurring the risk of disease in his own family, en¬ 
danger others to whom his disease may be com¬ 
municated. The stamping-out process must extend 
to the very bottom of society, and if we apply our¬ 
selves to the stamping out of causes, the effect (in¬ 
fectious disease) will not demand our attention. 

If slops thrown out at the kitchen door of the 
poorest house in the town threaten the health of 
those living in that house, all who may eventually 
suffer from the sickness beginning in that family 
have as clear a right to prevent the cause as they 
would have to put the family in quarantine were 
they suffering from small-pox. 

The art of purveying has been brought very near 
to perfection, and it may well be left to the com¬ 
mercial instincts of those whose business it is; but 
the hardly less important art of scavenging has 
received from the outset nothing but the sheerest 
neglect. It is as yet hardly in its infancy ; if we 
can hide our filth away underground, shove it down 
the gutter to our neighbors’ premises, or secrete 
it in one of those fermenting retorts, a public sewer 
(as usually constructed), we think we have done 
all that our own safety requires of us, and the 
safety of others we have not yet learned to regard. 
But our own safety is by no means secured ; we are 
always iu danger from our neglected wastes, and in 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 89 

proportion as we and others use the common sewer 
do they endanger us and we them. 

That precursor of the sewer, the receptacle in our 
own yards, is certainly less dangerous than its mod¬ 
ern substitute, but it is usually very far from being 
a safe neighbor to even an isolated house. As 
houses accumulate, the risk from it increases. 

I was recently conversing with an intelligent 
builder about the construction of a contemplated 
cess-pool. 

“It is useless to suppose that in such heavy 
ground a filtering cess-pool can very long answer 
a good purpose.” 

“ I don’t know how that is, but my own cess-pool 
in similar ground has been in constant use for eight 
years without being cleaned out, and it works all 
right yet.” 

“ How do you know that it is not leaching into 
your well ? ” 

“ Be' ause I put my well a good distance away 
from it, on the up-hill side.” 

“ How about your neighbors’ wells, down the hill 
below you ? ” 

“ Oh, I don’t know anything about them ; that’s 
their lookout.” 

The fact is that the whole hill-side near the top 
of which this man lives is supplied with alternate 
cess-pools and wells, and there is every reason to 
suppose that the porous strata through which the 
jess pools are emptied are the very strata from which 
the wells are filled. 


90 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

It is not to be understood that the ordinary out¬ 
house vault is necessarily a source of danger; there 
is enough to be said against this arrangement on 
the score of convenience and of decency to serve as 
an argument for its abolition ; but if it be cemented 
perfectly tight, and if its contents be daily disin¬ 
fected with carbolic acid, sulphate of iron, or other 
suitable chemical addition, there is no fear of either 
the poisoning or the dangerous fouling of the air. 

So, too, if it be used only for its legitimate pur¬ 
poses, if no liquid matter of any sort be poured 
into it, and if it have a copious daily sprinkling of 
ashes or dry earth, it will be equally free from sani¬ 
tary objection. 

But if these precautions are not adopted and 
carried into effect under a rigid supervision, there 
is certainly no single appurtenance of the life of an 
ordinary household so fraught with danger and 
annoyance to all who live within reach of its in¬ 
fluence. 

In all towns and villages where this expedient is 
allowed to remain in use, the strongest and most 
persistent effort of the health authorities, reinforced 
with full power for the infliction of penalties, should 
be devoted to the regular, frequent, and efficient 
supervision and inspection of every out-of-door 
closet of whatever description. The removal of the 
contents should never be left to the uncontrolled 
action of the proprietor, but should be carried out 
by well-directed workmen in the employment of 
the board, or at least under its direct inspection. 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


91 


However perfect the ventilation of sewers or cess¬ 
pools, the safety of individual families and of all to 
whom they may communicate disease demands a 
careful attention to the ventilation of the house 
drain. It is chiefly through this drain that cess-pool 
and sewer gas finds its way into the house, and the 
house drain itself will be relatively more foul than 
will the public sewer which takes also the wash of 
streets. Dust and foul matters of various sorts are 
very apt to accumulate with the congealed grease 
that so frequently coats the sides of the drain. 
Therefore, so far as the house itself is concerned, its 
greatest source of danger lies in the return to its 
rooms of the emanations from its own offscourings, 
entering through the water traps or through leaks 
in the pipes, whether such return be caused by their 
own expansive force or by the pressure of the sewer 
air behind them. Chemical disinfection can, at best, 
afford only temporary relief. Dr. Simon says on 
the subject of the disinfection of houses which are 
said to have offensive smells or which inspectors 
find in a stinking state, “ It cannot be too distinctly 
understood that cleanliness and ventilation and dry¬ 
ness, are the proper deodorizers of houses, and that 
artificial deodorizers will no more serve in their 
stead than, in regard of perfumes, these could serve 
instead of soap and water.” 

The following extracts are taken from Dr. Robert 
Angus Smith’s work on “ Disinfectants and Disin¬ 
fection.” 

“Animal matter, which chiefly is found to be 


92 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

dangerous, is, in fact, the faeces or dejecta of human 
beings and of cattle. It might be supposed that 
these substances had already been decomposed, but 
such is not the case. The decomposition is very 
imperfect, and when they are allowed to stand pu¬ 
trefaction sets in, closely allied to, perhaps exactly 
the same, as that which takes place in other animal 
matters, such as blood, or in a mixture of flesh and 
water. When these substances decompose, the re¬ 
sult is, so far as we know, nearly the same as the 
decomposition of the entire animal body. We are 
not able to tell the difference between the products 
of putrefaction from our cess-pools and those from 
our graveyards. The problem, then, of preserving 
meat, or of preserving the entire animal from cor¬ 
ruption, and the problem of preserving sewage and 
fseces from decomposition, become entirely one and 
the same. We are required to do for the faeces that 
which the Egyptians did for their bodies, until they 
shall be thrown upon the ground, and mixed with 
the soil and become the food of plants. 

“ Every substance in fine powder disinfects — 
dust of all kinds, whether platinum powder or pow¬ 
der of sandstone. The surface is enormously in¬ 
creased in such bodies, and surfaces attract the air, 
which is confined and pressed into service, causing 
mere active oxidation, and therefore more purifica¬ 
tion. 

“ Pettenkofer says that carbolic acid preserves 
inert the ferment cells, but when it is removed they 
become active. If this is true, the disinfectant 





THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


93 


must be used continuously, and the impure matter 
must be cleared away continuously, whilst soon in 
time, and especially in the earth the infectious 
matter will die. 

“ One may very correctly look on the soil as 
the greatest agent for purifying and disinfecting. 
Every impurity is thrown on it in abundance, and 
yet it is pure, and the breathing of air having the 
odor of the soil has, on what exact evidence I do 
not know, but very generally, been considered 
wholesome.” 

It is by no means enough to establish even the 
most perfect water trap in the line of a house drain. 
It is of at least equal importance that there should 
be a free vent for the escape of all air from the sewer 
and all gases generated within the house drain or in 
the soil pipe, not into the attic of the house nor at 
its eaves, near sleeping-room windows, but well up 
through and above the highest point of the roof. 

House-drain ventilators are often introduced into 
chimneys, but they are nearly as often removed 
after a short trial. So long as there is a constant 
upward draft in the chimney, this disposition of the 
gases is good enough, but when no fires are used, 
the chimney frequently becomes a down-cast shaft, 
or when gusts of wind drive the smoke or the soot¬ 
smelling air into rooms, the ventilator gas is sure to 
accompany it. 

House drains are even more liable to changes of 
temperature, and therefore more subject to a vary¬ 
ing pressure of the air within them, than are sewers 
of themselves. 



94 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

What is known under the general term “ sewer 
gas ” is the emanation from waste matters under¬ 
going decomposition in the absence of free air and 
light, and in the presence of water, whether in a 
sewer, a house drain, a cess-pool, a vault, or a foul, 
wet, and unventilated cellar. It frequently exists 
in the case of a detached country house, and is 
never absent from a town sewer, though it is possi¬ 
ble in the case of these, by perfect ventilation, 
greatly to lessen its production, and so to dilute it 
as to prevent its doing serious harm. 

Poisonous sewer gas cannot be clearly defined. 
It is known chiefly by its effect; even its odor is 
rarely a marked one, and danger is believed to lurk 
not so much in those foul stenches which appeal to 
our senses, as in the odorless, mawkish exhalations 
which first announce themselves by headache and 
debility. This gas, in its most dangerous form, is 
believed to be some product of organic matter 
undergoing decomposition in the presence of super¬ 
abundant water, and in the absence of light and 
free ventilation. 

It may be present without detection ; and, in 
addition to its frequent passing of the usual water 
traps, it is largely drawn into our living-rooms by 
the draught of heated chimneys when their demand 
for air is not abundantly supplied through other 
and easier channels of ingress. 

Furthermore, soil pipes, as frequently constructed, 
crack or open their joints, by the frequent expan¬ 
sion and contraction that alternate floods of hot and 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 95 

cold water occasion, and thus give vent to their 
gases. 

It is well known that leaden waste pipes decay 
and frequently become so perforated as to allow the 
escape of gas into the house. This decay always 
takes place from the inside, and generally at the 
upper sides of a pipe running in a horizontal or ob¬ 
lique direction ; that is, in the horizontal pipe lead¬ 
ing from a closet to the descending soil pipe more 
often than in the descending soil pipe itself. If 
there is a bend in the pipe the perforation occurs in 
its upper part. It usually occurs first in the highest 
pipes in the house. The perforation is very much 
the most rapid in the entire absence of ventilation. 
If the ventilation is by means of free and clear 
openings above and below, the corrosion amounts to 
very little. 

The fact that the point of attack lies in that part 
of the pipe which is not covered with water, and 
more especially in the higher portions, — to which 
heated sewer gas at once rises, and where it ac¬ 
cumulates, — indicates clearly that the corrosive 
action is due to the resultant gases of faecal de¬ 
composition and not to the liquid contents of the 
pipe. As the corrosion begins on the inside of 
the pipe, and at a point where perforation would 
not ordinarily cause leakage, it is very likely to bo 
overlooked, even when sought for by a plumber 
appyling the usual tests for leakage. 

The diseases resulting to the inmates of the house 
from this condition of the pipes, and from other 


96 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


means for the admission of sewer gas, are those usu¬ 
ally caused by excrementitious poisoning: namely, 
typhoid fever, diphtheria, diarrhoea, cerebro-spinal 
meningitis, scarlet fever, etc. ; and it is always safe 
to advise any one in whose house such diseases ap¬ 
pear, to uncover his soil pipes and have them thor¬ 
oughly examined. Dr. Fergus, in his pamphlet 
“ The Sewage Question : with special reference to 
traps and pipes ” (Glasgow, 1874), says : “ Lead has 
generally been used as the material for soil pipes, 
and as we have seen how capable it is of corrosion, 
it becomes a very important sanitary question to in¬ 
quire how long a good lead soil pipe will hold out. 
I have been studying this question for years, and it 
is now about seven years since I first exhibited de¬ 
cayed pipes in public, yet, I would not wish to dog¬ 
matize on the subject, but rather give approxima¬ 
tions, and would remark that the time will vary 
under the various circumstances according to the 
strength and rapidity of the flow of the sewage, as 
well as the original thickness of the pipe. But after 
allowing for this, we must broadly distinguish be¬ 
tween soil pipes which are ventilated and those 
which are not. By the former I mean when the 
pipe is carried up to the roof of the house and open 
to the external air; by the latter, I mean when the 
pipes are closed up. Of these last mentioned, the 
duration may be stated to be about twelve years, 
the extremes of variation being from a minimum of 
eight to a maximum of twenty years. In ventilated 
pipes the duration may be stated to be nearly double, 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


97 


running from twenty-one to thirty-three years, the 
extremes of variation being from eighteen to thirty 
or even more years. The practical sanitary conclu¬ 
sion which it concerns us all to keep in mind is, that 
any house, no matter how carefully or well built, 
may become unhealthy from this source, and that 
when cases of typhoid fever, diphtheria, etc., occur, 
the pipes should be thoroughly inspected, especially 
their upper surface, and the whole of the soil pipe 
uncovered. I must strongly insist on this, as in 
many cases the plumbers have declared pipes to be 
all right, which turned out to be very defective when 
uncovered. For some years back, I have insisted 
on a careful examination of the soil pipes wherever 
I have cases of typhoid or diphtheria, and in every 
case where I could get this carefully carried out, I 
have detected these perforated pipes, or sewer air 
getting into the houses in some other way.” 

One of the other ways he believes to be by the 
transfusion of the gas through the water of the 
trap, which he seems clearly to have detected. In 
experiments with glass pipes having bends or water 
traps it was found that the light gases passed through 
by the top of the bend, and the heavy gases by the 
bottom. “ The action of the gas was curious. It 
was found, first, to saturate the surface of the water 
next to it in the trap ; then to sink down in a fine 
stream, and then gradually travel through to the 
other or house side of the trap, when it again spread 
out and began to diffuse itself both into the atmos¬ 
phere above it and downward through the water 


98 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

also.” More recently Dr. Fergus made a series of 
experiments with a bent tube, the bend being filled 
with water after the manner of the usual trap. In 
the sewer end of the tube he inserted a small vessel 
containing a solution of ammonia. In fifteen min¬ 
utes the ammonia had passed through the water of 
the trap, and had bleached the colored litmus paper 
exposed at the house end. In another experiment 
he produced the rapid corrosion of a metal wire ex¬ 
posed at the house end. To prove that this trans¬ 
mission takes place not only with ammonia, which 
is lighter than air, he made the same experiment 
with sulphurous acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, chlo¬ 
rine, and carbonic acid, all of which were transmitted 
so as to produce their chemical effect on the other 
side of the trap in from one to four hours. 

Dr. Carpenter of Croydon, England, says, “ The 
demands of air for fires and for respiration must be 
supplied from some source, and as the easiest means 
of access is often the communication between the 
house and the sewer, the poisonous gases which are 
lightest, and therefore in the highest parts of the 
drains nearest at hand, are first drawn in.” 

He gives the following means by which the ad¬ 
mission of these gases is obtained: through the 
water-closet trap, when the soil pipe itself is unven¬ 
tilated ; through defective joints or fissures in the 
soil pipe, resulting from bad workmanship, accident, 
or decay; through the waste pipes of house-maids’ 
sinks, butlers' sinks, kitchen sinks, and untrapped 
bath outlets; through the overflow pipe from wash- 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


99 


basins, etc. He especially emphasizes the emptying 
of the traps by siphon-like suction, or, where the 
trap is not constantly used, by the evaporation of 
the sealing water. He thinks that not one trap in 
ten thousand is properly protected, and that with¬ 
out protection they are worse than useless. 

The healthful arrangement of the water supply 
and drainage of the house in its minutest details 
ought to be a chief care of the architect, whereas, in 
practice, it is almost invariably left to a plumber, 
doing the work too often by contract, and having no 
conception of what is needed,—only of what has 
hitherto been done. 

Evils resulting from the admission of sewer gas 
into living-rooms are popularly called “ accidents,” 
but they are accidents which may always be fore¬ 
known and the prevention of which is perfectly un¬ 
derstood ; they are no longer accidents, but gross 
faults of commission. 

Until latety, in applying the water s} 7 stem, it has 
been considered sufficient to interpose what is called 
a water trap — usually an inverted siphon, in which 
water is supposed to be always standing — between 
the house and the waste pipe leading to the sewer. 
These traps, as commonly constructed, are in every 
way defective : even a light wind blowing into the 
mouth of the sewer often increases the pressure 
sufficiently to send the sewer gas bubbling through 
them into the house; a great rush of water into 
the sewer during heavy rains, by lessening the air¬ 
space and compressing the contained air, often sim- 


100 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

ilarly forces the traps. The same effect is pro¬ 
duced in a marked degree by the rise of the tides 
into the mouths of outlet sewers in sea-side towns, 
the air being compressed into a smaller space and 
forced to find a vent. Even did these difficulties 
not exist, the fact that water transmits aeriform 
matter would always remain as an objection ; sewer 
gas is absorbed by the water of the end of the trap 
which is toward the sewer, and is given off to con¬ 
taminate the air at the end which has a communi- 

* 

cation with the interior of the house. 

The ordinary soil pipe has a trap at its lower part, 
and, if unventilated, its air stagnates often for hours 
together. When the pipe is used, every gallon of 
water poured down causes a displacement of some 
of the contained gas, which will seek its easiest 
means of escape, probably into the house. When a 
current is set up in a siphon-shaped trap below, its 
contents necessarily vibrate back and forth for a 
certain time, giving an impulsion to the confined 
air above that will tend to force it through fissures 
or feeble traps. 

All soil pipes should deliver into ventilated traps 
outside of the house so that gases forced from the 
sewer need not even depend upon the cpen ven¬ 
tilator from the top of the soil pipe, but shall not be 
allowed to escape into the house at all. 

Instances of fatal disease arising from imperfect 
plumbing have been and still are numberless, many 
of them as glaring as the following, described by 
Hakerman, who says that in the prisons at Brest 


THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


101 


the apartments which were supplied with water- 
closets were filled with sewer gas when the south¬ 
west wind drove the air through the sewers and 
forced the traps. In these apartments the cholera 
raged with great intensity, while those parts of the 
prison not supplied with closets remained free from it. 

Dr. Fergus asserts that diarrhoea, cholera, diph¬ 
theria, and dysentery have increased fourfold since 
the introduction of the water-closet system with its 
numerous inlets for sewer gas into houses and water- 
supply cisterns. 

In 1872, the Medical Officer for Edinburgh re¬ 
ported that wherever water-closets were introduced, 
“ in the course of one year there were double the 
number of deaths from typhoid and scarlet fever, 
and any epidemic fever occurring in these houses 
assumed a character of malignant mortality.” In 
our own cities it is known that the fatal prevalence 
of typhoid, and it is believed that frequent epidem¬ 
ics of diphtheria and cerebro-spinal meningitis, are 
due to faulty drainage alone. 

In doing away with cess-pools and substituting 
sewers, unless proper precautions are taken, we 
simply make an elongated cess-pool, rarely suffi¬ 
ciently cleansed, and often grossly foul, and com¬ 
municating with the interior of every dwelling- 
house. If typhoid excreta are thrown into a sewer 
a mile away from us, we have no security against 
die danger that its poisonous contagium will float 
»n the gas of the sewer, and enter our own living- 
rooms. Grave as this difficulty is, it may be almost 


102 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

entirely removed by a proper arrangement of the 
drainage works of the house itself. 

How slight a change in temperature in a sewer 
or cess-pool suffices to force a water trap, may be 

seen by experimenting with 
the simple apparatus illus¬ 
trated herewith. , 

The bend in the pipe A, 
filled with water, represents 
the common trap of house 
plumbing ; the flask is filled 
with air. If the hand be 
simply placed upon the flask, 
the bodily heat will expand 
the air sufficiently to throw 
the water quite out of the 
pipe, although its upper arm 
may be several inches long. 
In like manner, on opening 
the cock in the pipe leading 
from the vessel above, con¬ 
taining water, the contents 
of this vessel will flow into 
the jar and bring to bear 
upon its contained air such a pressure as will force 
the water out of the bent tube. This represents 
precisely the condition of things when the quan¬ 
tity of water in the sewer is materially increased 
by sudden rains or by the rise of the tide into the 
outlet. 

Another cause of changing pressure upon the air 





















































































THE DRAINAGE OF HOUSES. 


103 


of the sewer, is the frequent ebb and flow of the 
volume of sewage, now only a thread of water 
along the floor, and now an amount sufficient to fill 
it to half its height. 

O 

The ventilation of soil pipes is not only needful 
to carry away sewer gas, which would otherwise be 
forced through the traps or transmitted by their 
water, but also to prevent the formation of a vac¬ 
uum when large volumes of water are poured down 
them. The vacuum thus formed is quite sure to 
suck open one or more of the water-traps, — which, 
until it is filled at its next use, will remain free for 
the passage of the gas from the pipe into the 
house. 

A soil pipe in untrapped communication with a 
sewer, has been described by Dr. Carpenter, as an 
elongated bell-glass, affording a certain depot for 
the lighter products of decomposition and putre¬ 
faction ; if the soil pipe has a free ventilation by a 
direct channel to the outer air above, these gases 
will escape harmlessly, but unless such outlet is 
provided, they will themselves seek out (or create) 
defective spots through which to find their way to 
the interior of the house. 

Unused water-closets are especially dangerous, 
as the water in the trap, which was their only fee¬ 
ble barrier to the communication between the in¬ 
side of the sewer and the inside of the house, is 
soon removed by evaporation ; and as ordinarily 
arranged, the overflow pipes of little used bath-tubs 
ind stationary wash-basins, have their traps empty 
and open during a large part of the time. 


104 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


Iii the very complete sewerage work of Croydon, 
Dr. Carpenter early insisted upon the compulsory 
ventilation of soil pipes, but his opinion and advice 
had to be reinforced by a long list of deaths trace- 
nble to the lack of ventilation, before the authori¬ 
ties adopted the rule. The work was systematically 
carried out by Mr. Latham, who was then a di¬ 
rector of the Croydon board, and who has since 
become a leading authority in matters of sanitary 
engineering. Although he had himself given full 
credence to Dr. Carpenter's belief, he was aston¬ 
ished at the result. “ Typhoid was sprinkled here 
and there before him ; but as the work progressed it 
entirely disappeared from behind him and has not 
returned.” Since this statement was made, typhoid 
has occasionally reappeared in Croydon, — owing to 
the fact that preventive regulations were in some 
cases made applicable only to neto houses, defective 
arrangements already existing being allowed to re¬ 
main. A recent severe attack has led to more com¬ 
plete reforms, and it is hoped that a better con¬ 
dition as to health will result. 

Popular attention is now being resolutely drawn 
to these important sanitary considerations, and we 
may reasonably hope that we have fairly entered 
on an era, in which the improvement of sanitary 
conditions will be an important attendant of ad¬ 
vancing civilization. 

In a later chapter of this book, more explicit 
practical directions concerning the drainage and 
ventilation of houses, will be given. 


CHAPTER III. 


THE DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. 

“ All filth is absolute poison.” —Bowditch. 

It should be the first purpose of town sewerage 
to remove the unclean refuse of life rapidly beyond 
the limit of danger ; the second, to prevent it from 
doing harm during its passage ; and the third, to 
regulate its final disposal. 

The channel through which the removal is effected 
— the sewer — whether large or small, must con¬ 
form to certain conditions, or it had better never 
have been built: — 

a. It must be perfectly tight from one end to the 
other, so that all matters entering it shall securely 
be carried to its outlet, not a particle of impurity 
leaking through into the soil. 

b. It must have a continuous fall from the head 
to the outlet, in order that its contents may “ keep 
moving,” there being no halting to putrefy by the 
way, and no depositing of silt that would endanger 
the channel. 

c. It must be perfectly ventilated, so that the 
injurious gases that necessarily arise from the de¬ 
composition of matters carried along in water, or 
•adhering to the sides of the conduit, shall be diluted 


106 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

with fresh air, and shall have such means of escape 
as will prevent them from forcing their way into 
houses through the traps of house drains. 

d. It must be provided with means for inspection, 
and, where necessary, for flushing. 

e. Its size and form must be so adjusted to its 
work, or to its flushing appliances, that the usual 
dry-weather flow may be made to keep it free from 
silt and organic deposits. 

A sewer that is deficient in any one of these par¬ 
ticulars is an unsafe neighbor to any inhabited 
house, and a fair subject for indictment as a dan¬ 
gerous nuisance. Dr. Simon says : “ I accordingly 
think it an essential principle that the evil of a 
stinking sewer should always be dealt with at its 
root. Thus, a sewer which is imperfectly ventilated 
should have perfect ventilation provided for it; a 
sewer which, though fairly constructed, is from poor¬ 
ness of current not completely self-scouring, should 
at due intervals have extrinsic flushing ; and sewers 
which, with radical ill-construction, are virtually but 
cess-pools under the street, should, without delay, be 
abolished.” 

Frequently, when the systematic sewerage of a 
town is undertaken, there comes up the question of 
private drains, which have been built by individual 
enterprise and are really the property of private 
owners ; but owing to this complication, and to the 
fact that they are thought to be good enough for 
temporary purposes, they are often left to the last. 

This is entirely wrong. So far as circumstances 


THE DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. 107 

will 'permit , the first action of the authorities should 
be to stop all connection of house drains with these 
sewers. The next should be to stop all connection 
of house drains with private cess-pools. This may 
seem, to those who have not considered the subject, 
like an extreme statement; but all who have studied 
the evidence as to the means of propagation of in¬ 
fectious diseases will recognize its justice. The 
health of the community would really be less en¬ 
dangered if the offensive matters sought to be got 
rid of were allowed to flow, in the full light of day, 
and with free exposure to the diluting air, in road¬ 
side gutters, than it now is by their introduction 
into the soil from which the water of house wells 
proceeds, and by the accumulation of putrefying 
masses in unventilated and leaky caverns, whence 
the poisonous gases sure to be produced find their 
way through the drains into our houses, or into their 
immediate vicinity. In the open air, their offensive¬ 
ness would make us avoid them, and their poisonous 
emanations would be dissipated in the atmosphere. 
In the cess-pool and in a leaky sewer (which is but 
an elongated cess-pool) they too often find only one 
means of escape — through the drains into houses. 

It is an almost invariable rule, in this country, to 
hold the question of sewerage in abeyance until 
some time after a public water supply has been pro¬ 
vided. This is in every way unwise. It is a more 
than sufficient tax upon the soil of any ordinary vil¬ 
lage to receive its household wastes and subject 
them to a slow process of oxidation, so as to keep 


108 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

them, even under the most favorable circumstances, 
from doing great harm ; but when the volume of 
these wastes is enormously increased by the liberal 
use of water from public works running free in 
every house, the case becomes at once serious. The 
soil is oversaturated, not only with water, but with 
water containing the most threatening elements of 
danger. 

On the other hand, no system of sewerage ar¬ 
ranged to accommodate an abundant water supply 
should be introduced until enough water is provided 
to secure the thorough cleansing of the drains. 

Both branches of the work should be carried out 
at once, so that the oversaturation of the ground 
and the danger of sedimentary deposits in the sewer 
may alike be avoided. Even where the introduction 
of water is not contemplated, the local authorities of 
towns and villages should regard it as their most 
important duty to provide and maintain sufficient 
and absolutely impervious sewers wherever these 
are needed. 

Nor is the simple foul-water drainage enough, 
save where the soil is so dry as to be free from such 
sources of malaria as do not depend on the wastes 
of human life. Malaria is a poison in the atmos¬ 
phere which is recognized only by its effects on 
health. It often accompanies foul-smelling gases, 
but it is not necessarily heralded by any form of 
appeal to the senses, unless it be in the way of 
nervous headaches and a general feeling of debility. 

Its presence is often marked by a disturbance of 


THE DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. 


109 

sleep, uneasiness, lassitude, and digestive irregu¬ 
larity. Sir Thomas Watson, who has made one of 
the best statements of the case, says : “For produc¬ 
ing malaria it appears to be requisite that there 
should be a surface capable of absorbing moisture, 
and that this surface should be flooded or soaked 
with water and then dried ; the higher the temper¬ 
ature and the quicker the drying process, the mor^. 
plentiful and the more virulent the poison that it 
evolved.” 

If malaria come from cryptogams, then drainage 
may prevent the germination of these, just as it 
prevents the germination of the seeds of the cat-tail 

flag. 

The districts soaked by hill-waters about Rome 
were malarious for many centuries. Tarquin, by a 
system of deep subterranean drainage, collected 
this stagnant water and turned it into the Tiber. 
The lands became at once healthy, and were oc¬ 
cupied by a large population. After the Gothic 
invasion the drains were neglected, and became 
obstructed, and so they still continue; and for 
hundreds of years these once fertile and populous 
districts have remained almost uninhabitable. 

In addition to the frequent examples of sanitary 
drainage in Europe, and conspicuously in England, 
there are some instances in our own country which 
are sufficiently striking. 

The town of Batavia, in New York, became at 
one time so malarious that it was almost threat¬ 
ened with destruction. It was decided to drain 


110 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


some saturated lands near the town. The first 
work was carried on by subscription, but the agri¬ 
cultural profit demonstrated was enough to induce 
land-owners to continue it at their own expense. 
The malaria was immediately mitigated, and for 
the past twenty years the town has been practically 
free from it. 

Shawneetown, in Illinois, was formerly exceed¬ 
ingly unhealthy. One seventh of the men engaged 
in building the railroad there died of malarious dis- 
ease. The draining of the surface water by a ditch 
(which at one point had to be cut to a depth of 
forty feet) removed the cause of the difficulty, and 
the town has remained healthy ever since. 

Embryo towns and paper cities — their surface 
being obstructed by partly finished roads, and the 
land being withdrawn from cultivation and left to 
the care of no one in particular — are often much 
move unhealthy than their sites would have been 
had the same population planted itself in the open 
fields. 

Stagnant pools on which cr 3 T ptogams grow are 
frequent sources of disease. Most surface ponds 
have their areas contracted in summer by evapora¬ 
tion, and their newly-exposed, foul margins are 
quite sure to poison the atmosphere. 

The increase of population in malarious districts 
always exerts an especially bad influence, because 
the organic wastes of human life accumulate in the 
loil and aggravate its insalubrity. 

Closely allied to the malarious influences of satu- 


THE DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. 


Ill 


rated soils (especially in densely built districts) are 
those which attend the escape of sewer gas. The 
pernicious action of this gas is especially felt in the 
higher districts of sewered towns. As a rule, sewer 
air finds its escape in the higher-lying districts, and 
often conveys the germs of diseases originating in 
the lower and poorer parts of the town. 

The medical officer of Glasgow says: “ It has 
been conclusively shown that houses presumed to 
be beyond suspicion of any possible danger from 
this cause — houses in which the most skillful en¬ 
gineers and architects have, as they believed, ex¬ 
hausted the resources of modern science — have 
been exposed in a high degree to the diseases aris¬ 
ing from air in contact with the products of decom¬ 
position in the sewers. And this for a very obvious 
reason. Such houses are usually built on high 
levels, where the drains have a very rapid fall.” 

Thon says that in Cassel, in the higher part of 
the town, which one would suppose the healthiest, 
typhoid fever was brought into houses by sewer 
gas which rose to them by reason of its lightness. 
In Oxford, in 1850, cholera, by the same action, 
appeared in several houses in the higher and 
healthier parts of the town. 

In Berlin, in 1866, in those parts of the city 
where there were no sewers or water-closets, the 
deaths amounted to 0.37 per cent, of the popula¬ 
tion, while in the Louisenstadt, where sewers and 
water-closets were in general use, the deaths 
reached 4.85 per cent. Owing to errors in the con- 


112 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

struction of the sewers of Croydon (England), 
their early use was followed by a violent outbreak 
of typhoid fever, which attacked no less than 
eleven per cent, of the population. 

All experience and all scientific demonstrations 
go to show that the only safety in the water car¬ 
riage system of sewering lies in the freest possible 
ventilation of the sewer and all its branches. 

The evidence is almost universal, that wherever 
sewerage works are badly executed, and where 
proper precautions against the invasion of houses 
by sewer gas are not taken, typhoid fever and other 
diseases of the bowels are quite sure to be increased 
in intensity, and to appear in parts of the town 
which, before sewerage was undertaken, were com¬ 
paratively healthy. 

In 1856 there was an epidemic of typhoid fever 
in Windsor, England. Four hundred and forty 
persons, or five per cent, of the whole population, 
were attacked, and thirty-nine died. The disease 
affected the rich quite as much as the poor, but it 
confined itself entirely to houses that were in com¬ 
munication with a certain defective town drain. 
Windsor Castle had its own drain, and its inmates 
were entirely untouched; in the town, places only 
a block apart suffered severely or escaped entirely 
according as they were in communication with the 
town drain or with the castle drain. 

It should be understood that sewage matters, 
though offensive, are not dangerous until two or 
three days after their production. The great point 





THE DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. 


113 


sought to be gained in the water system of sewer¬ 
age, and that which constitutes its chief claim to 
confidence, is the instant removal of all organic re¬ 
fuse, everything being carried entirely away from 
the vicinity of the town before decomposition can 
have begun. Any plan not effecting this is en¬ 
tirely inadequate, and, on sanitary grounds, objec¬ 
tionable. 

In many towns where there is no water supply, 
a rude system of sewerage is adopted, with the 
precaution of prohibiting water-closet connections. 
This is really hardly a precaution at all. Investiga¬ 
tions made in towns where the earth and ash 
systems prevail, as in many of the large manufact¬ 
uring towns of the north of England, show that 
the ordinary contents of the public sewers are in 
all respects not less foul and offensive, and probably 
little less dangerous, than are the contents of those 
which receive all of the ordure of the town with a 
copious flow of water. That is to say, the kitchen 
wastes and house slops when mixed with the wash 
of the streets constitute so prolific a source of offen¬ 
sive sewer gases that the night-soil is not especially 
marked, save as a specific vehicle for the spreading 
of such epidemics as are communicated by means 
of bowel-discharges. 

On the other hand, Dr. Yoelcker, who is excellent 
authority, does not accept the theory that sewage is 
as foul where house drainage is excluded from the 
sewers as where it is admitted. He says, “ I do not 

think the Thames Conservators would have any ob- 

8 


114 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

jection to the surface water passing into the Thames 
through a separate sewer from the sewage. The 
statement that the proportion of the pollution of 
surface water to sewage is as ten to twelve must be 
founded on some mistake. I do not believe that 
water passing down the streets and running from 
the roofs of houses would naturally contaminate the 

• 95 

river. 

It is not the least benefit of the water supply in 
towns and villages that it sooner or later compels 
proper attention to the sewerage question ; for a 
liberal supply of water, running free of cost in every 
house, soon leads to a great increase in the amount 
of water used and allowed to run to waste, and the 
result is that the people are awakened to the only 
argument by which average communities are at all 
affected, — the argument of life and death, — and 
are compelled, often in spite of themselves, to adopt 
more complete sewerage. It would show a wiser 
forethought, and lead to ultimate economy, if our 
towns would at once, on agitating the question of 
the introduction of water, couple with the scheme 
a plan of complete sewerage. It is a very ostrich¬ 
like blindness which hopes to escape the sure con¬ 
sequence of the beginning of the work. If it is 
undertaken at all, the double expense is inevitable, 
and it had better be honestly acknowledged and 
sufficiently provided for at the outset, especially as 
it is in every way better that the two operations 
Bhould proceed simultaneously. 


THE DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. 


115 


The question of cost should be taken into very 
early consideration, and it will not be slight; but 
pari passu there should be a due estimate of the 
benefits to accrue. These are not of such a char¬ 
acter that they can be very readily calculated in 
dollars and cents, but there few cases, in towns of 
five thousand inhabitants and over, where their im¬ 
portance will not be very fully appreciated. 

The construction of a proper system of sewerage 
is at best expensive, but it may be much more 
cheaply done if taken in hand at once and carried 
on systematically until the whole is complete, than 
if done piecemeal, here and there, as property- 
holders may elect, which is the general custom in 
America. I do not know that the English method 
of paying for the cost by distributing principal and 
interest over a period of years has been adopted 
with us, but it seems the most just and the least 
oppressive. It is more fair to posterity, without 
bearing heavily on the present generation, than pay¬ 
ment by interest-bearing bonds to be redeemed 
twenty or thirty years hence. 

Latham, in his inaugural address as President of 
the Society of Engineers, made a calculation of the 
cost and value of the water-works and sewerage of 
the town of Croydon, as follows : — 

Cost: purchase of land (for sewage utilization), 
£50,000; water-works, £70,000 ; sewers, irriga¬ 
tion works, baths, abattoirs, and general improve¬ 
ments, £75,000. Total, £195,000. The money 
savings during thirteen years since the completion 


116 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

of the work, he estimates to have been: 2,439 funer¬ 
als, which would have cost <£12,195; 60,975 cases 
of sickness prevented, <£60,975 ; value of the labor 
for six and one half years of 1,317 adult persons 
whose lives were extended, ,£166,930. Total, 
£240,100. He says, “Although it has been at¬ 
tempted to put a money value on human life, we 
individually feel that life is priceless, and we may 
look to the 2,439 persons saved from the jaws of 
death in this single town as the living testimony of 
the great value of sanitary works.” 

It is well known to physicians that their chances 
of success in the treatment of disease are very much 
reduced with persons living in unhealthy places. 

The cost of sewerage works is often made un¬ 
necessarily great with the idea that it is the duty 
of the public to furnish on outlet for factories, 
slaughter-houses, and all manner of establishments 
which are carried on for individual profit, and in 
which the cost of removing the resultant refuse is 
fairly chargeable on the business rather than on the 
'public purse. 

So far as the community is concerned, it should 
be compelled to construct sewers only for the re¬ 
moval of such waste matters as are incident to the 
daily life of all classes of the population. If brew¬ 
eries, chemical works, and other manufactories pro¬ 
ducing a large amount of liquid waste, are to be 
provided with a means of outlet, this should be 
done entirely at their own charge ; their profit and 
convenience should not be advanced at the cost 


THE DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. 


117 


of every member of the community. And more 
than this, the wastes of factories being often per¬ 
nicious, not only on reaching the outlet of the 
sewer, but by the generation of gases within them 
which may pervade all their ramifications, it is a 
serious question whether such establishments should 
not be compelled to secure independent outlets at 
their own expense, or at least to render their wastes 
innoxious before discharging them into the public 
drain ; paying even then an extra sewer-rate, pro¬ 
portionate to the extra service they require. 

The sanitary authority of every town should have 
entire control over the sewers, with power to decide 
what shall be admitted to them, and what excluded, 
and to levy an additional tax in all cases where an 
undue use is made of the public convenience. 

The economical use of the organic wastes ot the 
house or town, demands most careful consideration. 
The utilitarian question, important though it is, is 
only secondary, but as an accessory, the matter of 
economy is very important, and in every perfect 
system of sanitary improvement the arrangements 
must be such that there shall be a complete utiliza¬ 
tion of all the valuable constituents of the wastes 
Df domestic life; and practically our arrangements 
should be so nearly perfect, that nothing shall be 
lost that can be economically saved. 

The more important considerations affecting the 
question of town sewerage, were stated in the 


118 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

“ general conclusions ” of the English Board of 
Health, after a thorough investigation of the whole 
subject of sewerage, as follows : — 

1. That no population living amidst aerial im¬ 
purities arising from putrid emanations from cess¬ 
pools, drains, or sewers of deposit, can be healthy 
or free from attacks of devastating epidemics. 

2. That as a primary condition to salubrity, no 
ordure or refuse can be permitted to remain be¬ 
neath or near habitations, and by no other means 
can remedial operations be so conveniently, eco¬ 
nomically, inoffensively, and quickly effected, as by 
the removal of all such refuse dissolved or sus¬ 
pended in water. 

8. That the general use of large brick sewers 
has resulted from ignorance or neglect; such sewers 
being wasteful in construction and repair, and 
costly through inefficient efforts to keep them free 
from deposits. 

4. That brick and stone house drains are 44 false 

in principle, and wasteful in the cleansing, con¬ 
struction, and repair. That house drains 

and sewers, properly constructed of vitrified pipe, 
detain and accumulate no deposit, emit no offensive 
smells, and require no additional supplies of water 
to keep them clear.” 

5. That an artificial fall may be cheaply and 
economically obtained by steam pumping, and that 
the cost of the whole system to each house is much 
less than the cost to that house of removing its 
refuse by hand. 



THE DRAINAGE OF TOWNS. 


119 


6. All offensive smells proceeding from any works 
intended for house or town drainage, indicate the 
fact of the detention and decomposition of ordure, 
and afford decisive evidence of malconstruction, or 
of ignorant or defective arrangement. 









PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS. 







CHAPTER IV. 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 

Whether it is contemplated to execute the 
whole work of sewering of towns immediately or 
not, the first step in every case, should be to pre¬ 
pare a complete plan of the whole work, so that 
when it shall finally^ be finished it will be harmo¬ 
nious, — each part being adapted to the work that 
it will have to perform, when all the lines are in 
operation. In arranging this plan, the engineer 
will consider, not only what are to be the demands 
of the town as it now exists, but in what way the 
sewage of parts to be built in the future will be 
likely to affect the demand upon its main lines. Of 
course it will be impossible to foresee with precision 
the extent and direction of the future growth of 
any town, and this element of uncertainty must al¬ 
ways remain. Still, so far as the probabilities of 
the case are concerned, much economy can be se¬ 
cured by a careful consideration of the prospect,— 
providing for rather more than less of what will 
probably be necessary, but arranging so far as may 
be that these parts to be added shall not all de¬ 
mand an outlet through the same main line. In this 
way we may avoid the necessity for making any 
sewer very much larger than present needs require, 


124 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

while by increasing the size of several mains we 
may provide all of the adjacent area when the occa¬ 
sion shall arise. So far as future extensions of the 
present town are concerned, all that need be done is 
to provide main outlets, of a size adapted to their 
area. 

OUTLETS. — INTERCEPTING SEWERS. 

The first question to be considered in arranging 
the plan for the sewerage of a town or village is 
that of an outlet, at which the foul sewage of the 
streets and houses may be delivered without danger 
of polluting water-courses or destroying their fish, 
or of silting up harbors or navigable streams ; and 
without forming within dangerous proximity to the 
town a deposit of offensive sewage matters which 
might constitute a source of annoyance or of insalu¬ 
brity. 

In all cases where this part of the problem pre¬ 
sents difficulties, it should be considered whether a 
separate direction or a shorter outfall may not be 
given to the storm-water drainage, allowing the 
sewers to deliver at their main outlet only the ordi¬ 
nary drainage of houses and the street-wash of very 
slight rains. The cases are frequent where the re¬ 
moval of the sewage proper from low lying parts 
of a town may be best and most economically se¬ 
cured by artificial pumping; though, in the major¬ 
ity of instances, it will be practicable, by the use of 
intercepting sewers, to deliver by natural outfall the 
drainage of all except the very lowest portions of 


AKRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 125 

the town. It is in the adjustment of this part of 
the work that the experience and judgment of the 
engineer in charge will be the most severely tested; 
in all matters of construction, ventilation, house 
connections, etc., certain rules and explicit directions 
can be applied, but the arrangement of the outlet 
varies with nearly every new undertaking, and with 
reference to this branch of the subject it is possible 
here to give only general indications. 

It would often be practicable to take the small 
ordinary flow of public sewage to a remote point, 
by the use of an intercepting sewer, even when the 
cost of providing such an outlet for storm water 
would be so great as to make it impracticable. In 
such cases there may be carried from the point of 
outlet to the distant point of discharge the smallest 
pipe that will accommodate the usual flow, so ar¬ 
ranged that whenever, as during storms, the volume 
is increased beyond the capacity of this pipe, it shall 
overflow and be carried directly into the stream or 
harbor at hand. At such times the amount of water 
in the sewage will so dilute it that no bad effect 
need be apprehended. 

The great danger in nearly all the towns of our 
Atlantic seaboard lies in the fact that they dis¬ 
charge some of their most important sewers below 
high-water mark, so that at each rise of tide not 
only is the flow at these points checked, and foul 
silt allowed to collect in the stilled water, but the 
closing of the vent at this end of the sewer and the 
rise of water within it, whether by the action of 


126 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

the tide or through the accumulation of the flow 
from above, brings a pressure to bear upon the con¬ 
tained air and forces it to escape at the higher 
points ; the state of the tide is in this way often 
made perceptible by the forcing of water traps a 
mile or more distant from the outlet. 

Outlets, especially of large sewers, exposed to 
strong winds, are likewise very objectionable, the 
pressure of the wind forcing the tainted air to find 
vent too often through badly trapped drains leading 
into occupied houses. 

Where necessary to secure a constant flow of 
sewage, pumping should always be resorted to, to 
avoid the expedient, now often adopted, of using 
some part of the system for the temporary storage 
of sewage during high tides. With coal at nine 
dollars per ton, the cost of lifting thirty thousand 
gallons ten feet high with a twenty-five horse-power 
engine would not exceed seventy-five cents, while 
with a larger engine and a larger flow the relative 
cost would be much less. It was estimated that 
to lift the whole sewage and rain-fall from a low- 
lying district in London, occupying four thousand 
acres, to a height of thirty-one feet would cost 
about five cents per annum per head of popula¬ 
tion. Whatever the cost of pumping, it may be 
made in level districts to do away with any out¬ 
lay for cleansing or flushing sewers, which without 
pumping must have been laid nearly level. 

There are as yet few cases in this country where 
it is necessary to discharge the sewage of a town 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 127 


into a stream from which other towns receive their 
water supply, though the towns along the Schuyl¬ 
kill River still stand in this relation to the city of 
Philadelphia. The time is probably not very dis¬ 
tant when this question will become here, as it now 
is in England, a very serious one. 

Tidal estuaries and bays receiving the drainage 
of a town are sure to have those parts of their bot¬ 
toms and sides which are alternately covered and 
exposed by the changing tides fouled with organic 
matter, and to become thereby seriously offensive 
and dangerous. 

Recent sewage floats in water. After maceration 
it sinks in still water and in currents having a less 
velocity than one hundred and seventy feet per 
minute. Its specific gravity is about 1.325. 

The condition of Newtown Creek, Wallabout 
Bay, and the Gowanus Canal and Bay, near Brook¬ 
lyn, are examples of the subsidence of sewage in 
eddies and slack water. 

Tides may be made extremely useful in the flush¬ 
ing of sewers in level lowlands, but care should be 
taken to carry the outlet to a point where the in¬ 
convenience from subsidence will be reduced to the 
minimum. 


SIZES OF SEWERS. 

Nearly the most important item in connection 
with the arrangement of a plan for sewerage, and 
one in which professional experience is especially 
important, is the regulation of the sizes of the dif- 


128 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

ferent main drains and laterals. This involves a 
consideration of the amount of sewage proper; the 
customary rain-fall of the district; the grade or in¬ 
clination of the surface, as indicating the rapidity 
with which storm waters will find their wav to the 
entrances of the sewers ; and the extent to which, 
in order to avoid the flooding of cellars and other 
injury during copious rains, it is advisable to in¬ 
crease the sizes of the conduits beyond what is 
needed for ordinarv use. 

It is doubtful whether even large cities can really 
afford, in arranging their sewerage, to provide for 
the underground removal of the water of heavy 
rains, and certainly in smaller towns and villages it 
would be far cheaper to pay for repairing whatever 
damage might be caused by occasional heavy floods 
in the streets, or to provide for the removal of the 
water of these storms by surface gutters, than to 
make the size of the whole system of sewerage ade¬ 
quate for such work. Not only this, but sewers 
large enough to accommodate the water of very 
heavy storms would usually be too large for perfect 
cleansing with their daily flow, and would require 
expensive flushing appliances, which with smaller 
pipes would not be needed. In country towns it 
would not generally be wise to provide for remov¬ 
ing through the pipes the flow of a heavier storm 
than one quarter inch per hour. Gutters are much 
cheaper than sewers, and there is usually no objec¬ 
tion to their being relied on to remove the surplus 
water of sudden showers. 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 129 

It is not unusual to provide in cities for a rain¬ 
fall of one inch per hour, and to assume that one 
half of this will reach the sewer within the hour. 
Even this is far more than is necessary, if any 
other provision can be made for exceptional storms. 
For example: In Providence, one hundred and 
eighty-five storms were recorded in twenty-six 
years. Of these only twenty-seven were of more 
than one half inch, and one hundred and thirty-one 
of them were of one fourth inch or less. One half 
inch per hour equals thirty and one fourth cubic 
feet per minute per acre. 

If the supply of water in a town is ten gallons 
per head per day, for the whole population, the 
quantity of sewage to be removed will be about one 
hundred pounds daily for each person. Of this the 
closet flow will constitute about one third. This as¬ 
sumes that the use of the water-closet is universal, 
that vaults are entirely done away with, and that the 
water is employed for all domestic requirements. 

In Brooklyn, it is estimated that, aside from rain 
the sewage equals one and one fourth times the 
water supply, or fifty million gallons per day, the 
half of which running off between nine A. M. and 
five P. M. gives 3,125,000 gallons per hour, escaping 
during eight hours. This, from twelve hundred 
acres, gives two hundred and sixty gallons or thirty- 
three cubic feet per acre per hour, being less than 
one hundredth of an inch in depth over the whole 
area. 

Mr. Shedd, engineer to the city of Providence, 

9 


130 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

says on the subject of the size to be given to a 
sewer: “ The capacity of sewers to carry water de¬ 
pends mainly on their sectional area — if of proper 
form — and the rate of fall. In order to render 
sewers as nearly self-cleansing as possible, they 
must, as before stated, be adapted, in size and in¬ 
clination, to the ordinary flow of sewage, so far as 
to keep up a velocity sufficient to carry on all light 
matters, and to leave only so much heavy matter as 
will be finally carried along b} r the scouring effect 
of the storm waters. 

“ There is room for question as to how far the 
sewer should be made capable of carrying extraor- 
dinary storms. The original cost of large sewers, 
as well as the cost of maintenance, is so much greater, 
that a city can afford to pay for damages done by 
storms of unfrequent occurrence, rather than to con¬ 
struct them. Just where to stop in providing for 
such storms is a matter of doubt; and what would 
secure true economy in one place would not neces¬ 
sarily do so in another. The frequency of the 
heavy storms, the amount of rainfall, and the dam¬ 
age likely to be done, depend upon the location and 
rhe circumstances of each place.” 

Very careful records of rainfalls were kept for a 
long time by President Caswell of Providence, show¬ 
ing the following tabulated result which gives in an 
interesting form the data that are of value in sew¬ 
erage work. 

“ In twenty-six years previous to 1860, the time 
of rainfall is recorded in 185 storms : — 



ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 131 


In 131 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0 25 inch per hour, or less. 

In 18 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.33 inch per hour, about. 

In 9 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.40 inch per hour, about. 

In 7 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.50 inch per hour, about. 

In 8 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.62 inch per hour, about. 

In 3 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.67 inch per hour, about. 

In 3 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.75 inch per hour, about. 

In 4 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.87 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 1.00 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 1.75 inch per hour, about. 

185 

“ The two storms giving 1 inch and If inch per 
hour fell on the 5th and on the 14th of July, 1841. 

“ In one case, where the time of rain-fall was less 
than an hour, the rate is made as though the rain 
was an hour in falling. 

u In fourteen years, to the 1st of January, 18T4, 
the time of rain-fall is recorded in 139 storms : — 

In 98 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.25 inch per hour, or less. 

In 9 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.33 inch per hour, about. 

In 2 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.40 inch per hour, about. 

In 10 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.50 inch per hour, about. 

In 5 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.60 inch per hour, about. 

In 3 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.70 inch per hour, about. 

In 2 storms, rain fell at the rate of 0.80 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 0.90 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 1.00 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 1.12 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 1.20 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 1.40 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 1.52 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 1.83 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 2.00 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 2.32 inch per hour, about. 

In 1 storm, rain fell at the rate of 3.15 inch per hour, about. 

139 

“ Of those storms giving an inch or more per 

hour,— 




132 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


One fell in 1862. 
One fell in 1863. 
One fell in 1888. 


Three fell in 1870. 
One fell in 1871. 
One fell in 1873. 


One fell in 1869. 

Making nine such storms in fourteen years, against 
two in the previous period of twenty-six years. 
Seven of these storms occurred in the last six years. 

“ Where the time of rain-fall was less than an hour, 
it is reckoned as having been an hour in falling.” 

During my direction of the draining work of the 
Central Park in New York, there was gauged (on 
the 13th of July, 1859) a sudden shower in which 
between 5.15 P. M. and 5.45 P. M. two inches of 
rain fell. 

On the 30th and 31st of October, 1866, the Croton 
Aqueduct Department gauged a rain storm in New 
York which lasted for about five hours and meas¬ 
ured four inches of rain. 

Mr. Rowe, for a long time superintendent of sew¬ 
ers in the Holborn and Finsbury District of London, 
writing in defense of large sewers which he had con¬ 
structed, says:— 

“ I have observed twenty-five cubic feet of water 
per minute per acre reach the sewers from an inch 
fall of rain in the hour, from a surface where the 
houses have much garden ground attached ; and in 
another case, where the houses were nearer together, 
thirty-three cubic feet per acre per minute. That 
greater falls of water do take place, and that not 
unfrequently, is a well-known fact. I have known 
ten instances of the kind during the period of my 
observations” (twenty years). 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 133 


It is a safe rule to estimate all sewage except 
rain-fall at eight cubic feet per head of population 
per day. Of this, one half will be discharged be¬ 
tween nine A. M. and five P. M., equal to a flow of 
five hundred cubic feet per hour for each thousand 
of the population. 

Sewers choke and overflow during heavy storms 
mainly because they are too large for the work they 
are ordinarily called on to perform. If a sewer is 
so small that its usual 
flow is concentrated to a 
sufficient depth to carry 
before it any ordinary 
obstruction, it will keep 
itself clean. But if, as 
is almost always the case 
where the engineer lacks 
experience or where he 
defers to the ignorance 
of the local authorities, 
it is so large that its 
ordinary flow is hardly 
more than a film, with 
no power even to remove 
sand, we may be quite b , , 

J 1 m large sewer filled by the gradual 

SUl’e that its refuse solid accumulation of silt until only suf- 

matters will gradually fcient water-way is left for the 
. , .,i smallest constant flow. 

accumulate until they 

leave, near the crown of the arch, only the space 
needed for the smallest constant stream. And, in 
order to make room for a rain-fall flow, the whole 



























































134 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

sewer will have to be cleared by the costly and 
offensive process of removal by manual labor. A 
smaller sewer would have been kept clear by its 
own flow. 

The shallower and broader the stream, the more 
the friction against the bottom and sides and the 
greater the retarding of velocity. A brick will 
stand unmoved in a shallow stream of water run¬ 
ning sluggishly through a fifteen-inch drain, while 
if the same stream were concentrated into a five- 
inch drain it would have so much greater depth, 
force, and velocitjq that the brick would be entirely 
covered and swept away. 

The passion for too large pipes seems to be an 
almost universal one. The feeling is that it is best 
to make the conduit “ big enough anyhow,” and as 
a result, nearly every drain that is laid, in town or 
country, is so much larger than is needful that the 
cost of keeping it clean is often the most serious 
item of cost connected with it. 

One principle is very apt to be disregarded in 
regulating the sizes of sewers; that is, that after 
water has once fairly entered a smooth conduit 
having a fall or inclination towards its outlet, the 
rapidity of the flow is constantly accelerated up 
to a certain point, and the faster the stream runs 
the smaller it becomes ; consequently, although the 
sewer may be quite full at its upper end, the 
increasing velocity soon reduces the size of the 
stream, and gives room for more water. It is 
found possible, in practice, to make constant addi- 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 135 


tions to the volume of water flowing through a sewer 
by means of inlets entering at short intervals, and 
the aggregate area of the inlets is thus increased 
to very many times the area of the sewer itself. 
Where a proper inclination can be obtained, a pipe 
eighteen inches in diameter makes an ample sewer 
for a population of ten thousand. 

It was formerly the custom with architects and 
engineers to enlarge the area of any main pipe or 
sewer in proportion to the sectional area of each 
subsidiary drain delivering into it. But this is no 
longer done, since it has become known that ad¬ 
ditions to the stream increase its velocity, so that 
there is no proportionate increase of its sectional 
area. For example, the addition of eight junctions, 
each three inches in diameter to a main line of four- 
inch pipe, did not increase the sectional area of its 
flow, but made the flow only more rapid and cleans¬ 
ing. Ranger thus illustrates the average architect’s 


Z^ 

i 

i 

JB. ! c 

I 

I 


Figure 3. 


Ay 3-inch drop or soil pipe. 

B, 9-inch intermediate drain (9 times the area of A). 

C, 26-inch sewer (8£ times the area of B, and 75 times the area 
if A). 













136 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

method of draining a house and court. The reason 
for making B so large is to prevent its choking, an 
effect that its extra size is quite sure to produce. 

The main sewer in Upper George Street, in Lon¬ 
don, is five and one half feet high and three and 
one half feet wide. In the bottom of this sewei 
there was laid a twelve-inch pipe five hundred and 
sixty feet long. A head-wall or dam was built at 
the upper end of this, so that all the sewage had to 
pass through the pipe. The whole area drained was 
about forty-four acres (built area). The velocity 
of the water in the pipe was found to be four and 
one half times greater than on the bed of the old 
sewer. The pipe contained no deposit, and during 
rains stones could be heard rattling through it. 
The force of water issuing from the pipe kept the 
bottom of the old sewer perfectly clean for about 
twelve feet below its mouth. From this point bricks 
and stones began to be deposited, and farther on 
sand, mud, and other refuse, to the depth of several 
inches. In one trial a quantity of sand, bricks, 
stones, mud, etc., was put into the head of the pipe ; 
the whole of this was passed clear through the pipe, 
and much of it was deposited on the bottom of the 
old sewer some distance from its end. The pipe was 
rarely observed to be more than half full at its head. 
It was found that the sum of the cross sections of 
the house drains delivering to this half-full twelve- 
inch pipe was equal to a circle thirty feet in diam¬ 
eter. 

Another experiment was made with a sewer in 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 137 

Earl Street, which took the drainage from twelve 
hundred average-sized London houses, the area oc¬ 
cupied being forty-three acres of paved or covered 
surface. It was three feet wide and had a sectional 
area of fifteen feet, with an average fall of one in 
one hundred and eighteen. The solid deposit from 
the twelve hundred houses accumulated to the 
amount of six thousand cubic feet per month (two 
hundred and twenty-two cart-loads). A fifteen-inch 
pipe placed in this sewer, with an inclination of one 
in one hundred and fifty-three, kept perfectly clear 
of deposit. The average flow from each house was 
about fifty-one gallons per day, and, apart from 
rain-fall, the twelve hundred houses would have 
been drained by a five-inch pipe. It was estimated 
that at that time (about twenty-five years ago) the 
mere house drainage of the whole of London might 
be discharged through a sewer three feet in diam¬ 
eter ; }^et there is probably not a village of five 
thousand inhabitants in the United States whose 
magnates would be satisfied with a sewer of much 
less size for their own purposes; and a single hotel 
in Saratoga has secured future trouble in the way 
of the accumulation of raw material for the produc¬ 
tion of poisonous sewer gas, by laying a drain for 
its own use thirty inches in diameter. 

A fifteen-inch sewer was formerly considered the 
smallest size admissible for the drainage of a “ man¬ 
sion.” Such a sewer, with a fall of one in one hun¬ 
dred and twenty, or one inch in ten feet, would 
- drain nearly two hundred of the largest city houses; 


138 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

and a nine-inch drain with the same inclination 
would remove the house-drainage and storm water 
from twenty such bouses. 

A curious example of the capacity of small pipes 
was furnished in a case where a six-inch pipe was 
laid for the drainage of one detached house. One 
after another, as new houses were built, new drains 
were connected with this same pipe, until, after a 
time, it was found to be clean and in perfect action, 
though carrying all the drainage of one hundred and 
fifty houses. In a second instance a workman by 
mistake used for the drainage of a large block of 
houses a pipe which the architect had intended for 
a single house, and it was found to work perfectly. 

It may be taken as a rule that, with even a slight 
fall, a well-constructed eighteen-inch pipe sewer is 
ample for the drainage of an ordinary village area 
containing seven or eight hundred houses. In one 
instance a sewer of this size, having a fall of one in 
one thousand, accumulated but little deposit, and 
this was always removed by storms. In Tottenham 
(London), a main sewer of nine-inch pipe, widening 
to twelve-inch and afterward to eighteen-inch, and 
having a fall of one in one thousand and sixty-two, 
drained an area containing sixteen hundred houses. 
Its ordinary current was two and one half miles per 
hour, and brickbats introduced into it were carried 
to the outlet. During ordinary continued rains it 
was not more than half full half a mile from the 
outlet, and at the outlet the stream was only twc 
&nd three fourths inches deep. 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 139 

Rats and vermin live and breed in large sewers, 
never in small pipes. 

While these chapters were being prepared for 
publication, the Sewer Commissioners of Saratoga 
(the writer being employed as their consulting en¬ 
gineer) completed a main sewer more than two miles 
long, for the removal of the entire sewage, rain-fall, 
and spring-water drainage of that village. The ex¬ 
perience with this work affords so pertinent an illus¬ 
tration of the principles here advanced that it seems 
worth while to refer to it. The village is large and 
scattered, has an abundant water supply, is so 
inclined that during showers its storm waters con¬ 
centrate rapidly, and has, aside from its regular 
population, five or six enormous hotels, entertain¬ 
ing, when full, about as many thousand guests. 
The village brook itself, being mainly supplied by 
spring water flowing from various points over a 
wide district, is always a considerable stream. As 
it flowed through its old channel—a conduit with 
rough, loosely-laid stone side-walls, and with a more 
or less irregular bottom — its sectional area was 
about five feet. During heavy rains it was some¬ 
times thrice this. 

From the very beginning of the work we encoun 
tered the most violent opposition on the part of 
many citizens, who believed that the sewer contem¬ 
plated (circular, three feet in diameter) would be 
entirely inadequate, not only for the removal of the 
water of heavy rains, but even for the drainage of 
tiie hotels alone, or the carrying of the storm waters 


140 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

alone ; and throughout its construction this main 
sewer was derided as a “cat hole.” We were con¬ 
stantly reminded that one hotel had a main drain 
eighteen inches in diameter, and another a drain two 
and one half feet in diameter, and that it was mad¬ 
ness, with these drains as our guide, to attempt to 
accomplish the whole work with a three-foot sewer ; 
especially as our fall was said to be slight, one foot 
in four hundred feet. 

On the 9th of July, 1875, the connections were 
made with all of the hotels ; the village brook itself 
was turned into the sewer at its head, and its insuffi¬ 
ciency was to be demonstrated. After every avail¬ 
able source of water had been drained, the depth of 
flow in the upper part of the sewer was six and one 
half inches. Nearer the outlet, where the water had 
acquired its maximum velocity, it was only four and 
one half inches. As this was not sufficient to wash 
out the few loose boards carelessly left by the work¬ 
men who had done the final pointing of the joints, 
a hydrant was turned on at the upper end of the 
sewer, with a full head, and it had the effect only 
of raising the flow one inch at the upper end and 
less than half an inch at the lower end of the sewer. 
On the 10th there fell a violent thunder-shower, 
flooding the street gutters until the water ran to the 
top of the curb-stones, and when this flood had 
reached the catch-basins and the open brook that 
discharged into the head of the sewer, its only effect 
was to raise the flow, at the highest point, less than 
two inches, justifying the original opinion that a 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 141 

two foot sewer would have been more than adequate 
for all that was required of it. On the 80th day of 
August the entire village brook, with its tributaries 
and its many springs, was turned into the three-foot 
sewer, near the water-works, about one-half mile 
beyond the outskirts of the village. The effect of 
this addition was to increase the depth of flow in 
the sewer from about six inches to nine inches, and 
to increase the velocity of its stream from one hun¬ 
dred and fifty feet per minute to one hundred and 
eighty-five feet per minute. I can excuse my course 
in recommending so large a sewer as one of* three 
feet, only by the fact that in the state of public 
opinion then it would have been entirely impossible 
to secure the making of anything smaller. Before 
the introduction of the brook I examined the out¬ 
let of the Grand Union Hotel, which had then about 
eight hundred and fifty guests and four hundred and 
fifty servants, or about thirteen hundred inmates in 
all. There can hardly be fewer than one hundred 
water-closets in the house, and the use of water in 
this hotel seems to be in every way as copious as 
possible. The hour of examination was ten in the 
morning, at which time, as the landlord supposes, 
the largest flow is running. By the most careful 
measurement and estimate that I could make, the 
amount of sewage then flowing from that hotel meas¬ 
ured four and one half inches in sectional area, and 
might have all been discharged by a two and one 
half inch pipe. 

Concerning the rate of fall necessary for the re- 


142 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


moval of ordinary road silt from sewers, Adams 
gives the following table of inclination for pipes of 
different sizes running half full ; based on careful 
calculations and practical trials with the sewerage 
works of the city of Brooklyn. 

For 6-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 60. 

For 9-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 90. 

For 12-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 200. 

For 15-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 250. 

For 18-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 300. 

For 24-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 400. 

For 30-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 500. 

For 36-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 600. 

For 42-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 700. 

For 48-inch pipes a grade of 1 in 800. 

When the direction changes, the friction is in¬ 
creased, and the fall must be increased to com¬ 
pensate for this. 

When the lay of the land permits it, the most 
rapid fall should be given at the upper end of the 
sewer, where the quantity of water is least, and 
where the greatest velocity is consequently needed 
to secure a cleansing flow. 

The object of giving an inclination or fall to the 
sewer is to secure the velocity necessary for the re¬ 
moval of such solid matters as may exist in the 
sewage, but if the amount of water flowing is pro¬ 
portionate to the size of the conduit , sewers of dif¬ 
ferent sizes give the same velocity at different incli¬ 
nations : for instance, a ten-foot sewer with a fall of 
two feet per mile, a five-foot sewer with a fall of 
four feet per mile, a two-foot sewer with a fall of 
ten feet per mile, and a one-foot sewer with a fall 



ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 143 

of twenty feet per mile, will have the same veloc¬ 
ity, provided they are filled in proportion to their 
capacity; but the ten-foot sewer will require one 
hundred times as much sewage as will the one-foot 
sewer, and utrfess it carries a volume of water 
proportioned to its capacity ,• the velocity of its 
stream will be correspondingly lessened. It be¬ 
comes, therefore, especially important that the size 
of the conduit be adjusted to the volume of the 
stream, this being as important as the rate of incli¬ 
nation in securing a cleansing flow, and being so 
little understood that it cannot be too much em¬ 
phasized in any attempt to bring the mechanism 
of sewerage works to the notice of the general 
public. 

Latham gives a velocity of three feet per second 
as the least that should be allowed for the outlet 
drain of a house. A four-inch drain to secure this 
flow should have a minimum inclination of one in 
ninety-two ; a six-inch drain, one in one hundred 
and thirty-seven ; a nine-inch drain, one in two 
hundred and six; and to attain a velocity of three 
feet per second at these inclinations they must run 
at least half full; that is, the four-inch drain must 
discharge 7.85cubic feet per minute; six-inch 17.66 
cubic feet per minute; and nine-inch, 39.76 cubic 
feet per minute. It is very seldom indeed that 
even a large boarding-house discharges a flow equal 
to 7.85 cubic feet per minute, and in practice, while 
too large outlets should aways be avoided for house 
jrains, any such drain should have considerably 


144 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

more than the minimum rate of fall indicated 
above. 

It cannot be too often reiterated that the great 
purpose of modern water sewerage is to remove 
immediately, entirely beyond the occupied portions 
of a town, all manner of domestic waste and filth 
before it has time to enter into decomposition ; 
thus preventing an accumulation of dangerous 
matter, and obviating the necessity for employing 
men in the unwholesome work of hand-cleansing of 
cess-pools and of sewers of deposit, which all seivers 
are apt to become ivhen materially too large for the 
work they have to perform. 

The pipe sewer has been so long in successful use 
that there is no further question of its value. Even 
ten years ago, fifty miles of such pipe were made 
per week in Great Britain alone. 

Accuracy in form and joints, and smoothness of 
surface, are very important. A perfectly round 
pipe, accurately laid at the joints, will deliver, 
under the same circumstances, fifty per cent, more 
water than one of distorted form or with ill-fitting 
joints. 

Any roughness of surface as in even the best 
made cement pipes, tends to catch hair and lint and 
thus to form nuclei for accumulating obstructions, 
sometimes so hard that they can be removed only 
bv forcible mechanical means. 

With a well-constructed system of pipe sewers, 
not too large for the work required of them, of 
good form and surface, with perfect joints, with 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 145 

only curved junctions, and with a well regulated 
even if slight fall, every particle of the sewage of 
the town may be delivered at the outlet, far away 
from the built-up districts, long before any decom¬ 
position of the refuse matter has set in ; though 
occasional flushing may be necessary to cleanse the 
sides of the pipes from slimy matters adhering to 
them. 

The material of the pipe should be a hard, vitre¬ 
ous substance, not porous, since this would lead to 
the absorption of the impure contents of the drain, 
would have less actual strength to resist pressure, 
would be more affected by frost or by the formation 
of crystals in connection with certain chemical com¬ 
binations, or would be more susceptible to the 
chemical action of the constituents of the sew¬ 
age. The best pipe known in our market is the 
Scotch ; but some American work is very nearly as 
good. 

Much experience with cement sewer pipes seem 
to demonstrate that they are not sufficiently uni¬ 
form in quality, nor sufficiently strong and durable 
to be used with confidence in any important work, 
— whether public or private. 

Sewer pipes should be salt-glazed, as this re¬ 
quires them to be subjected to a much more intense 
heat than is needed for slip-glazing, and thus secures 
a harder material. 

Pipes having a socket at one end should be fur¬ 
nished with a gasket before being cemented, in 

order that no cement may be pressed through into 
10 


146 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

the bore of the sewer, to cause a disturbance of the 
flow. Where there is danger of the penetration of 
roots, as near elm-trees, the sewer should be bedded 
in a sufficient thickness of concrete to prevent the 
entrance of rootlets, which are sure to find and to 
penetrate the smallest aperture. An entrance once 
effected, a mass of fibres soon forms, sufficient to 
retard or entirely to arrest the flow. 

There has been patented in England a joint for 
earthern-ware drains which is made by casting upon 
the spigot and in the socket of each pipe, by means 
of prepared molds, rings of good cement which will 
make a tight fit and bring the bore exactly into 
line. 

A chief argument in favor of the use of pipes 
rather than brick sewers lies in their greater essen¬ 
tial cleanliness. Brick sewers are always offensive, 
even though small, because their porous walls are 
more or less permeated by the filth of their con¬ 
tents. If (as is almost always the case) they are 
too large, there will be the additional annoyance of 
accumulations of refuse as foul and dangerous as 
the contents of any cess-pool, producing poisonous 
gases which are free to travel through the sewer 
and all its branches. 

FORMS OF SEWERS. 

The desirable forms of sewers are three in num¬ 
ber : the round, the elliptic, or egg-shaped, and that 
with perpendicular walls, having a semi-circular roof 
and a hollowed floor. 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 147 

The circular form gives the greatest sectional area 
for the amount of wall required, and, therefore, the 
greatest capacity for discharge. All sewers which 
are at all well adapted in their size to the regular 
daily work that they will have to perform are best 
made of circular shape, but where in addition to the 
daily use provision has to be made for the removal 
of the waters of heavy rains, so that at times a very 
much greater capacity will be needed, the elliptical 
form is to be preferred. 



Figure 4 illustrates the advantage of the elliptical 
form for this purpose. The circle CD C' represents 
a circular sewer twelve inches in diameter, which we 
will suppose to be sufficient for the ordinary sew¬ 
age of a district in which the minimum depth of 
flow would be three inches. 


148 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

As there is ordinarily only this minimum flow, 
and as it is desirable to preserve this depth in order 
to cleanse the sewer, it would be unwise, in order to 
secure the storm water capacity desired, to adopt a 
large circular sewer in which, because of its greater 
width, the minimum flow would be less than one 
inch deep, — not sufficient in depth or velocity for 
the removal of deposits. Therefore, in order to in¬ 
crease the capacity as much as is necessary, instead 
of enlarging the circle we preserve the bottom form, 
C E C ', remove the top of the circle and carry it up 
to a height of thirty-six inches, its greatest width 
being twenty-four inches. In this way we preserve 
always our cleansing flow in a narrow and deep 
channel and give the needed capacity for the re¬ 
moval of storm waters. 

Pipe sewers, which may be economically used up 
to a size of eighteen inches diameter, should always 
be round, — the slight warping to which earthen¬ 
ware is subjected in burning being likely to throw 
the ellipse out of its form, so that good joints can¬ 
not be made, while with the circle we can at least 
be sure of a perfect fitting in the water-way by 
turning the truest side of the pipe to the bottom. 
Larger sewers, if they have sufficient regular flow 
to carry off all sedimentary matters, should still be 
made round, as this form is the cheapest and the 
strongest. 

It is only when the flow is very irregular, and 
when this is the only available means for securing 
the proper cleansing minimum flow, that the egg 
shaped should be adopted. 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 149 

The sewer with vertical sides and arched roof is to 
be adopted only under exceptional circumstances, 
when the minimum flow is always large, and where 
great capacity is needed. 

THE SEPARATE SYSTEM. 

In what has been said, the carrying away of the 
water of excessive floods to a separate point of out¬ 
let, giving a more remote or more artificial outflow 
to the regular sewage of the town, I am not to be 
understood as indorsing all that its advocates claim 
for what they call “The Separate System,” which 
is (theoretically) the carrying of all rain-fall and 
all surface water away by one outlet, and the car¬ 
carrying of the foul sewage (house waste, etc.) 
through the regular system of pipes, delivering it 
in a concentrated form for agricultural use. 

Whatever advantage may arise to the farmer 
from the fact that he receives his liquid manure in 
a more concentrated form, and that it comes to him 
in a regular daily quantity which he may more 
readily arrange to use, there would be a more than 
corresponding disadvantage to the public in the 
fact that the house waste alone is not sufficient, 
save perhaps where the grades are very steep, to 
keep the sewers clean. Under ordinary circum¬ 
stances, an attempt to make this disposition of the 
sewage matters of a town would undoubtedly result 
in the necessity for much artificial flushing and 
cleansing, and to the danger of the frequent stop 
page of smaller pipes and house drains. 


150 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

To keep all rain-fall out of the public sewers is 
objectionable for more reasons than one, for no arti¬ 
ficial flushing which can be depended on in practice 
can be so efficient in cleansing the sewers as the 
frequent introduction of a sufficient amount of rain 
water. On the other hand, where it is practicable 
to do so, the removal of the surface water of exces¬ 
sive storms by some channel entirely separate from 
the general system of sewerage has the great ad¬ 
vantage of economy, while it often enables us to 
secure within reasonable cost the more distant re¬ 
moval of the foul sewage. (See note on page 171.) 

THE VENTILATION OF SEWERS. 

All sewers must at least be vented , and for per¬ 
fect security all ought to be well ventilated. It is 
of the first importance to provide openings for the 
escape of the contained air and gases when these 
are compressed, either by a wind blowing into the 
outlet or by the increase of the quantity of water 
in the sewer from the rise of the tide or from lieavv 
rain-fall. Unless such precaution is taken, house 
traps will surely be forced and sewer gas will surely 
escape into dwellings. It is, however, hardly less 
important that there should be such a free circula¬ 
tion of air through the sewer as will prevent the 
formation of those poisonous, mephitic gases which 
are especially generated in the absence of a suffi¬ 
cient supply of oxygen. 

Latham says that unventilated sewers are far 
more dangerous than steam-engines without safety 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 151 

valves. They contain in their air some quality 
that is pestilential and dangerous to health, and 
this can be disposed of or neutralized only by giv¬ 
ing the air of the sewer a free communication with 
the atmosphere. Typhoid fever is said rarely to 
be absent from towns with unventilated sewers. 
The constantly changing pressure upon the confined 
air within these conduits acts in connection with 
the draughts of chimneys and the force of winds 
to cause the bubbling of house traps, accompanied 
with an entrance of more or less of the sewer 
emanations. 

When the sewerage works of Croydon were 
nearly completed and the town was visited by an 
epidemic of typhoid fever, the mortality rose from 
18.53 per thousand to 28.57 per thousand. Al¬ 
though it is probable that the only matters decom¬ 
posing in the sewer were such as adhered to the 
pipes (which were well flushed), there were fre¬ 
quent outbreaks of fever until 1866. Diseases 
which had formerly made their haunts in the 
ower parts of the town traveled by means of the 
sewers and infected the higher districts. In 1866 
the sewers were systematically ventilated, and since 
that time there have been, until lately, no period¬ 
ical! outbreaks of fever, and, with a doubled popula¬ 
tion, “ the rate of mortality rarely exceeds eighteen 
in the thousand, which is a standard of health un¬ 
paralleled in the history of sanitary science for a dis¬ 
trict having so large a population.” Quite recently 
4 serious epidemic of typhoid made its appearance 


152 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS, 
owing to defects which were described in Chapter 

ri. 

The principle of the ventilation of a sewer is 
practically the same as that adopted by builders for 
the prevention of dry-rot. The fungi which cause 
this rot in timber cannot produce their germs in a 
current of air, and if a sufficient number of ven¬ 
tilating openings are made, communicating with 
each other, the action of the wind from one side 
or the other will cause a sufficient current. So in 
a sewer, a continuous movement of the air in one 
direction or the other carries away and dilutes sewer 
gases, and if they contain germs of organic disease 
capable of infecting the human blood, these are be¬ 
lieved to be destroyed by oxidation or otherwise. 

A safe sewer always has a current of air passing 
through it, and if it contains sewage matters at 
all, these also must be in constant motion. On this 
incessant movement of the air and the liquid must 
we rely for our only security. A solution of sugar 
in water, remaining stagnant, and protected from a 
free circulation of air, will enter into a vinous fer¬ 
mentation. If well ventilated and agitated, no such 
fermentation takes place. It is asserted that the 
excrement of a typhoid patient, continually agitated 
in contact with fresh air and a fair admixture of 
water, passes through a series of complete chemical 
changes, with no injurious product; but if allowed 
to remain stagnant, if not freely exposed to the air, 
or if it gain access to human circulation before a 
certain oxidation, it will, like a ferment, reproduce 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 153 

tself, and give rise to the conditions under which 
it was itself produced. Motion and aeration are 
therefore needed to prevent infection, which is sure 
to be generated when typhoid evacuations are con¬ 
fined and stagnant. Unventilated and badly con¬ 
structed sewers are sure agents for the propagation 
of the disease, when once it has taken root. 

The resulting gases of sewer decomposition are 
the vehicle or medium for the conveyance of infec¬ 
tion, and from their lightness they give rise to a 
rapid diffusion owing to the eagerness with which 
they seek means of escape at the higher parts of 
the sewer system, that is, in house drains, soil pipes, 
etc. It may not be possible entirely to prevent the 
development of the poison in even the best ar¬ 
ranged sewer, but it is possible, by a free admission 
of air, to supply the oxygen which will take away 
its sting and render it harmless. Sewers which 
have large and frequent openings at the street sur¬ 
face, and through which the liquid contents have 
a constant flow, may give forth offensive smells, 
but, if they have proper attention, sanitary evils do 
not often result. 

Sewer gas, when largely diluted on its escape 
(at frequent intervals) into the air of the street, is 
probably nearly or quite innoxious, but when it. 
forces its way into the limited atmosphere of a 
closed living-room, the poison, or the germs of dis¬ 
ease accompanying it, may easily work their fatal 
effects. 

Sulphuretted hydrogen is found in all sewers in 


154 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

which the sewage itself or the mucous matters ad¬ 
hering to the pipe assume a certain degree of putrid¬ 
ity in the absence of a sufficient supply of fresh air. 
This gas is extremely poisonous; so much so that 
one part of the gas to two hundred and fifty parts 
of atmospheric air will kill a horse. At one half 
this intensity it will kill a dog. A rabbit was killed 
by having its body immersed in a bag of it, although 
its head was not inclosed and it could breathe pure 
air freely. 

One of the most frequent sources of pressure upon 
the air within a sewer is the increase of temperature 
arising from the hot water escaping from kitchens 
and baths. The repeated expansions and contrac¬ 
tions caused by the admission of hot and cold water 
produce a constant effect on all water traps connect¬ 
ing with unventilated sewers. With ventilation, 
the breathing in and out, as the air of the sewer 
contracts or expands, does not affect the water traps, 
because an easier passage is found through the ven¬ 
tilators. 

The constantly changing volume of water in many 
sewers, as has been before stated, exerts a powerful 
influence on the confined air. As the water rises it 
reduces the air space, and if it reduces this to one 
half, it brings to bear upon the air a pressure equal 
to a column of water thirty-four feet in height, and 
this pressure is relieved by a forcing out of air 
through the most available channel, — the channel 
where there is the least resistance ; if there is no 
other vent, a sufficient number of water traps must 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 155 

be forced to allow the pressure to become reduced. 
It being reduced, and the water falling again to a 
lower level, a vacuum is created which must be sup¬ 
plied by air forcing the traps in a reverse direction, 
and in either case the forced trap may remain open 
for the free passage of foul air until another use fills 
it with water. In the ebb and flow, too, a part of 
the perimeter of the sewer is made alternately wet 
and dry, with an accompanying production of vapor 
and gas. 

As the chief domestic use of sewers is between 
morning and noon, and as at this time the most hot 
water passes into them, the pressure on the air in 
the sewer is during this period increased both by an 
elevation of the temperature and by a reduction of 
the air space. Then, from about noon until the next 
morning, the quantity of the flow decreases, the air¬ 
space increases, the temperature falls, and more air 
must be admitted to supply the partial vacuum 
created. Such fluctuations are constantly occurring, 
accompanied with a drawing in and forcing out of 
air, for which ample passage must be made inde¬ 
pendently of the water traps of houses, or sewer gas 
will surely enter them. Where proper air vents are 
provided, this ebb and flow of the sewer may be in¬ 
creased, with great advantage in the matter of ven¬ 
tilation, by artificial flushing arrangements which 
will allow the water to be dammed back and released 
at frequent intervals. 

The movement of the air in and out of the sewer 
is also affected by barometric changes. 


156 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Where proper ventilation is furnished there will 
be an advantage in exposing the outlets of sewers to 
the direct action of the wind, but where there is not 
sufficient vent for escape, such outlets should, as has 
been stated, always be screened against strong cur¬ 
rents of air. 

Numerous experiments have been made with tall 
chimneys and fires, having for their purpose the 
creation of a strong draught from the sewer, but 
these are said in England never to have worked sat¬ 
isfactorily, and to be in no case recommended, being 
both expensive and troublesome. In Frankfort, on 
the contrary, such ventilating shafts are used with 
apparent good effect. 

By reason of the causes constantly at work tend¬ 
ing to the increase and decrease of the pressure of 
the air in the sewer, this variation may safely be 
depended on to furnish all needed ventilation, if 
only sufficient openings are provided from which air 
can pass in and out at frequent intervals. 

Ventilation by rain-water pipes from the eaves of 
houses has often been recommended, but experience 
has shown that it is unsatisfactory, not only because 
it frequently discharges sewer gas near the windows 
ff sleeping-rooms, but because at the time when 
ventilation is much needed these pipes are not avail¬ 
able ; either being filled with a rush of water or else 
having such a rapid downward current as to move 
the air toward the sewer rather than away from it, 
or because, from the position at which rain-water 
inlets are often introduced into sewers, these are en* 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 157 

tirely closed when there is a large amount of sewage 
flowing, — as during heavy rains, when ventilation 
is especially demanded. 

This system was adopted during the early days of 
the Croydon work, and was rigorously pursued. 
In 1860 such ventilation was compulsory in all cases. 
The mortality was very much increased until a bet¬ 
ter system was adopted in 1866, when the death- 
rate fell again to its old standard. 

In 44 Hints on House Drainage,” by Dr. Carpen¬ 
ter of Croydon, we are told, with reference to fatal 
epidemics of typhoid fever, that the illness dated 
from two distinct times, at both of which, with a 
high temperature and a stifling atmosphere, there 
was a heavy fall of rain. 44 1 do not mean to assert 
that each case commenced immediately after the 
rain-fall, but in upwards of twenty fatal cases into 
the history of which I examined, the commencement 
curiously ran up to two distinct dates, and of many 
slighter cases the patients stated that they had not 
felt well about the same periods.” One case oc¬ 
curred in his own house. The water-pipe ventilators 
being closed by the rain water, and the air in the 
sewers being compressed by the increased volume of 
the flow, the gas forced the water trap of his soil 
pipe and escaped into his tank room, where the 
upper end of the ventilator was used as an overflow 
pipe for the cistern. This air ascended to a room 
occupied by two persons, both of whom were at¬ 
tacked with typhoid fever. There were no other 
sases in the house. 


158 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

After all the experiments that have been tried 
with shafts, furnaces, mechanical blowers, steam jets, 
electricity, etc., the most experienced engineers have 
settled upon more frequent ventilation, by means of 
man-holes and lamp-holes opening at the centres of 
streets, as in all respects the best and safest. If 
these openings are sufficiently frequent and large, 
there is such an easy and thorough circulation of 
air in the sewer that the concentration of poisonous 
or of offensive gases is prevented, and their escape 
into the open air takes place at a point where they 
will be more diluted before reaching the sidewalks 
or the houses than if withdrawn by any other means 
yet devised. By the use of the charcoal ventilators 
described below, so arranged as to give free vent at 
their openings, it has been claimed that all practi¬ 
cal danger or objection may be obviated. On the 
other hand, it is held by many competent author¬ 
ities that even the best of these ventilators, while 
they do good as disinfecting agents, are objection¬ 
able as retarding the free circulation of air into and 
out of the sewer, which is the sovereign remedy for 
all the evil arising from the decomposition of the 
foul contents. 

The great safety lies in the dilution of the gases 
by the free admission of air, and by their escape, 
when they escape at all, into the open air as far 
as possible from the house line. The effect of di¬ 
lution is fully shown in fever hospitals ; formerly, 
the mortality among both patients and attendants 
was frightful to contemplate ; but now, although 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 159 


the ventilation is often far from complete, the con¬ 
dition of the patients themselves is much improved, 
and contagion is almost done away with; so much so 
that if an attendant contracts the disease it is taken 
as clear evidence that there has not been a sufficient 
dilution of the exhalations from the patients, or, in 
other words, that the ventilation has been imperfect. 

The absorbing and disinfecting power of charcoal 
fully sustains its reputation. Latham quotes the 
following from Professor Musprat: 44 The absorb¬ 
ing powers of charcoal are so great that some have 
doubted whether it is really a disinfectant. This 
opinion has probably arisen from imperfect views of 
its modus operandi , since it not only imbibes and 
destroys all offensive exhalations and oxidizes many 
of the products of decomposition, but there is 
scarcely a reasonable ground of doubt remaining 
that it does really possess the property of a true dis¬ 
infectant, acting by destroying those lethal com¬ 
pounds upon which infection depends.” 

Strictly speaking, the charcoal is simply an ap¬ 
paratus by which a natural process is carried on in 
an intensified form. It has the two important 
qualities of condensing upon the surfaces of its 
inner particles eight or ten times its volume of oxy¬ 
gen, and of attracting to itself all manner of other 
gases. It is not necessary that sewer gas be 
brought into direct contact with it by external 
pressure. By the operation of the law of the dif¬ 
fusion of gases, the impurities of the air next to 
the charcoal being absorbed, remoter impurities 


160 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS 


How to this space and are in turn taken up, until 
the contents of a close room may be entirely 
purified by a small dish of charcoal. The oxygen 
that consumes or burns up the organic matter is 
speedily replaced from the atmosphere, and the con¬ 
stant efficiency of the apparatus is thus maintained. 

The clogging of the pores of the charcoal with 
dust, or their saturation with water, prevents this 
action, and charcoal that has become-wet or foul 
must be dried or burned in a retort before it be¬ 
comes again perfect in its action. If charcoal venti¬ 
lators are so situated as to keep dry and free from 
dust, they will not require changing or reburning 
more often than once a year. 

The efficiency of even a small quantity of char¬ 
coal will be understood when we remember Liebig’s 
statement, that a cubic inch of beech-wood char¬ 
coal contains a 
surface of inte¬ 
rior particles 
equal to one hun¬ 
dred square feet. 
The especial 



Figure 5. — Latham’s charcoal ventilator 
for sewer and man-holes. 


adaptability of 


charcoal to use in 
sewer ventilators 
is further shown 
by the fact that 
it absorbs gases 
contained in or 


accompanied by the vapor of water (as they always 




















































































ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 161 


escape from the sewer) much more readily than 
those which are dry. 

Several forms of charcoal ventilators have been 
devised. The best of them seems to be that of Mr. 
Baldwin Latham, which is a type of the class, all of 
which work on essentially the same principle. It 
is illustrated in the accompanying diagrams (Figs. 
5, 6). The central cover, (7, which is of wood, pro¬ 
tects the charcoal from rain or water used in sprink¬ 
ling the streets; g is a grating out¬ 
side of the closed part, through which 
the air escapes from the sewer or is 
drawn into it. Under this grating 
is a dirt-box surrounding the venti¬ 
lator and intended to catch dirt fall¬ 
ing: through the grating. There is Figure 6. —The 

° ° ° ° charcoal tray for 

an overflow ($) arranged to carry Latham’s ventiia- 
to the sewer all water reaching the tor ' 
dirt-boxes. The spiral tray t is made of galvanized 
wire-cloth and is filled with charcoal; it is screwed 
into the ventilator over the spiral trough S by means 
of the handle Ji. 

The arrangement of this disinfector is such that 
all air escaping from the sewer must pass either 
through the charcoal or through the spiral passage 
between layers of charcoal. If the layers become 
so obstructed by dust that a free passage through 
them is not afforded for the air, there is still an 
easy vent through the spiral open spaces. The 
charcoal is thoroughly protected against dirt and 
wet, and will remain effective for a long time, and 

li 












162 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

the arrangement is such that there can be no in¬ 
terruption of the working by the accumulations in 
the dirt-boxes, nor by the overflow of the water 
escaping from them. The sewer gas is all brought 
into close contact with charcoal, and has no possible 
means for escape except through the protected 
channels intended for it. The spiral tray should 
be filled with charcoal broken to about the size of 
marbles, and if care is taken in screening out its 
finer dust, it will afford a very permeable passage 
for gas. The dirt-box can be easily taken out and 
dumped, and readily replaced. 

Ventilators should be closer together in the lower 
and filthier parts of a town than on higher lands or 
steeper inclines. 

Mr. Latham thinks that they should never be 
more than two hundred yards apart. He advises 
renewing the charcoal once a month. Five hundred 
and sixty-two sets of his apparatus were used in 
Croydon. Their total cost, including labor, new 
charcoal, fuel for reburning, etc., made a charge of 
less than pne dollar and twenty-five cents per annum 
for each. The charcoal is reburned in iron retorts 
having small pipes to carry awa}^ the escaping gases. 

The usefulness of the charcoal ventilators is dem¬ 
onstrated bv the fact that in Croydon the written 
complaints of smells from certain sewers coincided 
with the absence of the trays (taken out for re¬ 
pairs), and the cause of the complaint was removed 
*y replacing them. 

I am informed that notwithstanding the success 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 163 


of these ventilators in Croydon, they are (there as 
elsewhere) being removed for the sake of giving a 
freer passage by simple open grating at the man¬ 
holes. It may therefore be assumed that however 
useful charcoal trays may be in cases where it is 
necessary to have ventilating openings close to 
houses, it will be best to dispense with them in street 
sewers, — trusting, rather, to the less obstructive 
communication through open gratings. (See note 
on page 171.) 

On steep grades, where there would be a tendency 
for the air of the sewer to be drawn toward the 
ventilators on the highest land, discharging at this 
point an amount of gas that should be distributed 
along the whole street, it is well to place a light 
hanging valve in front of each outlet into a man¬ 
hole. Such a valve will not obstruct the flow of 
the sewage, while it will prevent the air below from 
finding its way up the drain, compelling it to escape 
at its own ventilator. 

Where the ventilators used are not in connection 
with man-holes, they should rise, not from the 
crown of the sewer itself, but from a recess or chain 
ber carried up to the height of a foot or more. Into 
this recess the sewer air will naturally rise instead 
of passing on up the line, as it would be likely to do 
were there only a small ventilator-opening to divert 
it. 

With a free ventilation through the soil pipes at 
every house, there is an immense preponderance of 
area in favor of the vertical escapes, and these are 
frequently so placed that they become sufficiently 


164 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


heated to create a strong upward current. In a dis¬ 
trict containing a population of fifty thousand there 
would probably be ten thousand of these vertical 
openings, with a combined area equal to from 
twenty to forty times the area of the sewer at its 
mouth, so that their action would result more or less 
generally in the drawing in of air at the street open¬ 
ings ; a fact which is sufficiently proved in Croydon, 
by the accumulation of dust in dry weather in the 
charcoal-baskets with which the street openings are 
furnished. Where the orifice is a continuous exit, 
— that is, where there is no inward draught of 
air, — the charcoal remains black in spite of dusty 
streets. 

It is a frequent practice with engineers to admit 
house drains at a very low point in the wall of the 
sewer, where they will ordinarily be entirely sub¬ 
merged. This renders such connections inoperative 
as a means for ventilating the sewer, and the venti- 
• lation of the soil pipes of houses so connected will 
consequently be of no avail as a part of the public 
system of ventilation. If the drain has no ingress 
for air at its lower end, the ventilation of the soil 
pipe itself will be much less complete ; the pent-up 
gases arising from the decomposition of the con¬ 
tained organic matters may escape, but there will 
be little of the needed circulation of air in the pipe. 
With a free sweep of air from below, this decompo¬ 
sition would not take place in a pent-up condition, 
but would be carried on with a full supply of con¬ 
stantly changing atmosphere. Under these circum- 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 165 

stances tlie ventilation of the street sewer would 
have to depend upon its street openings alone. In 
a perfect system these should even play a somewhat 
secondary part, acting more as a means for the inlet 
of fresh air to supply the higher ventilators than as 
a means of escape for the air of the sewer itself. 

All manner of chemicals used for disinfecting 
sewer gas are objectionable, from their unpleasant 
odor, their own injurious character, the constant 
attention their use demands, their inefficiency and 
their expense ; nothing has yet been discovered that 
can at all compare with the simple use of wood 
charcoal. 

THE FLUSHING AND CLEANSING OF SEWERS. 

It is an important condition of all properly con¬ 
structed sewers that they should be kept at all times 
entirely free from sedimentary deposit and from the 
adhesion of foul and slimy matters to their side 
walls. Theoretically, this cleanly condition should 
be absolute; practically, we must endeavor to ap¬ 
proach as near to it as possible. 

In practice, perfection in this respect is rarely to 
be attained throughout the whole series of sewers 
of a town. It will more or less often become nec¬ 
essary to resort to some artificial means for remov¬ 
ing sedimentary deposits, and for washing the walls 
of sewers which have become coated with slime, — 
the deposition of which is one of the evils to be 
guarded against on the score of health. 

If from imperfect construction, from too great 


166 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


size, from lack of flow, or from any other cause, the 
sewers do not keep themselves clean with their nat¬ 
ural flow, then it becomes absolutely necessary that 
their deposits be removed either by hand labor or 
by flushing with copious floods of water. The less 
this is needed, of course the better, but if needed it 
is quite imperative. 

The purpose of all flushing is to create a flow of 
sufficient depth to be thoroughly cleansing, and to 
keep it up for a long enough time to wash away all 
accumulated matters. 

For small sewers, where an intermittent sudden 
addition of a few cubic feet of water to the natural 
flow would be sufficient to keep the line clean, a 
tumbler tank set on trunions directly in the line of 
the sewer and in connection with the man-hole will 
be useful. The accompanying illustration (Figure 
7) of such an apparatus is taken from Latham’s 
“Sanitary Engineering,” where it is thus described: 

“ When empty, this tank would remain level, as 
the portion B behind the trunion is heavier than 
the portion A before the trunion, but when the 
tank fills with water or sewage the portion A be¬ 
comes the heaviest, and the consequence is the tank 
tilts, discharging its contents into the sewer below, 
and afterwards righting itself ready to receive a 
fresh charge.” 

The tank should be made of cast iron, and its 
end, as it falls in either direction, should be received 
on wood, rather than on stone or metal. 

Special flushing appliances are frequently re- 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 167 

quired. These appliances are Dams ; Reservoirs ; 
lidal Basins ; the use of Street Hydrants, etc. Each 
of these may have its special advantages for special 
circumstances. 

Dams are obstructions placed in the sewers for 
holding back to a greater or less extent the sewage 
coming from above until its volume shall become 



Figure 7. 


sufficient (on the removal of the dam) to wash 
clean all that part of the line lying below them. 
Dams may be either elaborate cast or wrought iron 
appliances (sometimes with gun-metal facings) or 
any cheaper, or simpler contrivance, down to a 
simple wooden gate to be raised or lowered from 
the mouth of a man-hole. The dam may close the 
































168 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


sewer entirely, or only partially. Wliere the grade 
is slight so that the damming back of the water to 
half the diameter of the sewer will set it back for a 
long distance, giving in this way sufficient volume, 
a half-dam will suffice, and it has the advantage, 
that if forgotten or neglected the flow of the sewer 
will not be totally obstructed, there being sufficient 



Figure 8. 


water way left over the top of the dam. Where it 
is necessary to choke the flow entirely and to close 
the whole sewer with a dam, a special overflow way 
should be provided, in order that if this dam is not 
removed in time, there can still be an escape for the 
accumulation from above to avoid the danger that 




























ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 169 

the sewage will set back into the house drains. The 
modifications of the system of damming and the 
variety of apparatus for preventing the set back of 
the dammed sewage into lateral branches or house 
drains are so various, and the requirements for them 
differ so much with different circumstances, that it 
is hardly worth while to describe them minutely 
here. 

As an illustration of such apparatus, the pipe 
sewer dam in connection with man-holes, shown in 
Figure 8, is taken from Latham, who thus describes 
its action : — 

“For small sewers the author has used an earth¬ 
en-ware flushing block which is built into the head 
of every sewer running out of a man-hole as shown 
at A. These flushing blocks have a ground face 
against which a wooden disk, B, is placed. The 
presence of the water tends to fix the disk in its 
position, and the disk is connected to a chain. To 
guard against neglect, the float c is fixed on the 
chain, so that if the disk is left fixed in the sewer 
or as soon as the man-hole fills with sewage to such 
an extent that the float begins to swim by its power 
of floatation, it liberates the wooden disk from the 
mouth of the sewer, and the sewage escapes to the 
lower level.” 

Reservoirs are frequently useful for the accumu¬ 
lation of either sewage or extraneous water in 
greater or less quantities, to be ultimately set free 
to flood the sewers. Frequently the water of a 
brook or a storm flow may be used to supply these 


170 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

reservoirs, — which have the advantage that their 
contents may be retained for any desired time, and 
let loose whenever flushing is most required. 

Tidal basins (or tidal reservoirs) are receptacles 
to be filled by the high tide, and let loose at low 
tide, and are chiefly useful at the upper ends of 
long flat grades emptying into tide water. By 
their means even absolutely level sewers may be 
kept quite clean from deposit. 

Street hydrants are useful for large sewers when 
used in combination with dams or reservoirs, and for 
smaller lateral sewers by their direct flow. 

The arrangement of these flushing appliances, 
one or more, or all of them being useful according 
to circumstances, must of course depend upon the 
conditions obtaining in different localities. There 
are few towns where some or all of them are not 
needed for the comparatively satisfactory working 
of the sewers. 

In New York, in 1867, the cost of cleansing about 
two hundred miles of pipe sewers was only one hun¬ 
dred and twenty-five dollars. 

The following extract from a statement made by 
the engineer for the construction of sewers of the 
city of New York (published February 3, 1873), 
illustrates the comparative foulness of brick sewers 
and pipe sewers : — 

“ The usual price of cleaning sewers by hand is 
about $2.50 per load, and while under good sewer 
system solid deposits should be carried off with 
the flow, the city has been yearly paying from 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 171 


827,000 to 846,000 per year to remove them. It 
is notorious that persons who, under the old Tam¬ 
many regime , had contracts for cleaning these sew¬ 
ers, finding it profitable to remove the deposits at 
82.50 per load, were in the habit of putting ob¬ 
structions in the sewers with a view of creating 
solid deposits. The present commissioner of public 
works has, however, put a stop to all this, and last 
year reduced the cost of cleaning the sewers to 
814,412, against 844,690 for the year 1871. The 
following table, furnished by Engineer Towle, 
shows the comparative cost of cleaning brick and 
pipe sewers from 1867 to 1871 inclusive. The 
water supply having increased last year, the de¬ 
partment has resorted to the flushing process, and 
two or three nights per week the water from the 
hydrants has been let into the sewers, reducing the 
expense of cleaning for the year to 814,000. 

Note to page 150. — By the use of Field’s Sewer Flushing Tank, it is 
no longer necessary to relv on rain-fall for this work. 

Note to page 1(53. — More recent experience has clearly shown the 
advantage, save in special cases, of depending exclusively on open ven¬ 
tilation at the man-hole, rather than to obstruct the flow of air by the 
interposition of charcoal screens. 


172 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS 



unfaithfulness in their construction. 


































ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 173 

It was formerly supposed that with pipe sewers 
not too large for the amount of liquid they were to 
carry, there would be no necessity for flushing, and 
so far as sedimentary deposits are concerned this is 
usually true ; but a slimy coating often forms on 
the wall of the pipe and enters into decomposition, 
generating objectionable sewer gases. For this rea¬ 
son, all pipes used for house drainage only should 
be so arranged that they can be occasionally flushed 
out with a good flow of fresh water ; but where rain¬ 
fall is admitted from roadways and from the roofs 
of houses, additional flushing will not, generally, be 
needed, except during epidemics, or in dry, hot sea¬ 
sons. At such times there is always a great advan¬ 
tage in frequent flushing, and occasional disinfection. 

In flushing, always begin with the lower part of 
the system, nearest to the outlet, and work back 
toward the heads of the lines, so that there shall be 
no danger that deposit already existing in the lower 
parts will stop that coming from above in such a 
way as to cause the complete choking of the channel. 

Hand cleansing is to be avoided whenever possi¬ 
ble, and the circumstances are few under which it 
is necessary to construct a system of sewers in which 
this costly and objectionable process will be re¬ 
quired. It is now and then inevitable. 

STREET GULLIES. 

So far as it is a part of the plan to take surface 
rain-water into the sewers, proper openings must be 
made at street corners, or elsewhere, according to the 


174 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

rapidity of the inclination of tlie gutter, the location 
of the lowest point of the grade, the extent of sur¬ 
face to be drained, the frequency with which it is de¬ 
sirable to establish flushing points, and other consid¬ 
erations which may arise under certain circumstances. 

These street openings should not be used as sewer 
ventilators, that is to say, that they should be well 
trapped in order to prevent the air of the sewer from 
escaping at the side of the foot-way. In addition 
to their trapping they should be provided with some 
form of receptacle for the arresting of the sand and 
other heavy detritus washed from the roadway. 

Various devices have been adopted to secure the 

admission of sur¬ 
face water from 
gutters to the sew¬ 
er without allow¬ 
ing the escape of 
sewer gas. These 

ranged with a 
deep recess below 
the outlet for the 
accumulation of 
sand and silt 
washed from the 
roadway, and with 
some form of 
water trap. Their 
construction in our northern climate should have 
careful reference to a severe action of the frost, and 


are usually ar- 






















ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 175 


no plan that lias come under my notice seems so 
well adapted for this as one used by Mr. J. Herbert 
Shedd, the engineer of the sewerage in the city of 
Providence, the arrangement of which is shown in 
the accompanying diagrams. The trap for sealing 



Figure 10. — Side view of 
catch-basin trap. 



Figure 11.— Top view of 
catch-basin trap. 


the outlet is made of cast-iron, hinged with a copper 
bolt. It is firmly attached to the side of the basin 
with cement, and, if disturbed by frost, is simply 
torn loose from the brick-work, and can be easily 
cemented to its place in the spring. 


MAN-HOLES AND LAMP-HOLES. 

All sewers should be provided with man-holes for 
ventilation and for service during examination; and 
pipe drains should have, between the man-holes, and 
at every point where the vertical or horizontal direc¬ 
tion of the sewer is changed, lamp-holes, at the bot- 


























176 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

tom of which lanterns may be suspended which will 
enable the line to be examined from the nearest 
man-hole. The removal of all such obstructions ac¬ 
cumulating in pipe drains as cannot be washed out 
by flushing is effected by various instruments at¬ 
tached to jointed rods, like chimney-sweep tools, 
which serve as handles, enabling them to be used 
even at a distance of several hundred feet. 

The man-hole is a shaft or chimney built up from 
the sewer to the surface of the street, having an 
opening large enough for men to enter for work 
and some provision for steps to enable them to de¬ 
scend easity. 

Lamp-holes are smaller shafts which may be fur¬ 
nished with vitrified pipe reaching to the surface of 
the street, with an opening sufficiently large to al¬ 
low a lantern to be lowered into the sewer. As all 
sewers should be straight (vertically and laterally), 
between all man-holes and lamp-holes (except in 
rounding corners), by sighting from a man-hole to 
a lamp-hole, the workman can easily determine 
whether the sewer is obstructed or free. 

Man-holes and lamp-holes are generally covered 
with tight cast-iron caps, but it would be better in 
all cases to substitute for these strong iron gratings 
with the largest possible air spaces, the cover being 
raised very slightly above the grade of the street in 
order that there shall be no surface flow into it. 
And, even when this is done, it is often advisable to 
make a recess or catch-pit in the bottom of the 
sewer under the man-hole, to retain any earth 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 1T7 


entering through the grating. The advantage of 
the grating over the close cover is, that it gives the 
best means of ventilating the sewer that has yet 
been devised. 


PRIVATE DRAINS. 

The public sewer or drain may properly afford 
an outlet to the land drainage of private property, 
but before reaching the public drain, this should 
pass through at least two rods of sub-main drain 
laid under the direction of the public engineer, and 
trapped as he may direct for the exclusion of silt or 
refuse. This sub-main should deliver its water into 
the public drain as nearly as possible in the di¬ 
rection of the flow of the latter, so that the streams 
may run together without confusion, and the dan¬ 
ger from eddies be obviated. Drains from houses 
and all private establishments should be connected 
with the sewer under similar official regulation, and 
should enter at sufficient height to act as ventilators 
of the sewer, — their own ventilation being aided 
by this means for the entrance of air from below. 

SEWER JUNCTIONS. 

The character of the junctions of main and tribu¬ 
tary sewers has much influence on their capacit}^. 
It has been found that when equal quantities of 
water were running in two sewers, each in a direct 
line, at a rate of ninety seconds, if their junction 
was at right angles their discharge was effected 
only in one hundred and forty seconds, while if it 


178 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

met with a gentle curve, the discharge was effected 
in one hundred seconds. 

In one recorded instance, a pipe, having been 
gorged by reason of a right-angled junction, which 
kept the velocity of its flow down to one hundred 
and twenty-two feet per minute, had its flow in¬ 
creased to two hundred and eight feet per minute, 
and the difficulty entirely removed by making the 
junction on a curve of sixty feet radius. The same 
objection holds with right-angled junctions falling 
vertically into the sewer. In this case, as in the 
other, the inlet should be on a curved line ; but ver¬ 
tical junctions are usually objectionable. 

Frequent junctions are of great advantage. Ex¬ 
periment has shown that, with a pipe having a fall 
of one in sixty, its capacity, with junctions at fre¬ 
quent intervals, is more than three times what it 
would be if flowing only from a full head at the up¬ 
per end of the pipe. In sewers of larger sizes the 
capacity is increased more than eight times. 

TIDE VALVES. 

In all cases where the outlet of the sewer is the 
level of tide water, it is considered desirable to es¬ 
tablish some form of valve or dam which shall pre¬ 
vent the tide from setting back into the sewer. 

For large sewers, the most available form of tide 
gate seems to be that used in the case of canal 
locks, — two gates swinging together by the pressure 
from without, and holding back the rising waters; 
opening as soon as these waters recede below the 


ARRANGING PLANS FOR TOWN SEWERAGE. 179 

level of the sewage within. All discharging of sew¬ 
age below the level of high water is to be avoided 
whenever possible, unless for the removal of storm 
waters; for although the ebb and flow of the tide 
in a sewer suffices to keep the part thus traversed 
clean, there is usually a sedimentary accumulation 
about the point reached by the top; of the tide 
water flow. So far as the ordinary house sewage is 
concerned, it should, even if pumping is necessary, 
be kept constantly in motion, except in those cases 
where it is desired to store it temporarily for flush¬ 
ing purposes. 


CHAPTER V. 


THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS. 

In a work not intended for the practical guidance 
of engineers, it is not necessary to say very much on 
this head beyond what is contained in the preceding 
chapters. In determining the size of sewers needed 
for the area to be drained, — making allowance for 
the inclination or steepness of the grade on which 
the line is to be made, and for the proportion exist¬ 
ing between the regular flow of sewage and the 
amount of storm water that it will be necessary to 
provide for, — the considerations heretofore set forth, 
will be a sufficient guide to any engineer qualified 
to take the direction of such work. To give all the 
necessary details required for the instruction of a 
novice would be far beyond the scope of this work, 
nor would it be possible here to qualify amateurs, 
and sewer authorities who lack professional expe¬ 
rience, to take the direction of the work into their 
own hands. 

My chief purpose being to show to the private 
citizen or to the average chairman of a committee 
of aldermen, or supervisors, what are the essen¬ 
tial requirements of good sewers and what they 
must demand in order to secure the best conditions 


THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS. 


181 


of health, rather than to instruct them how to carry 
out the technical work of construction, it is not nec¬ 
essary to say more in this chapter than is needed to 
call the attention of such persons to matters which 
are not always sufficiently regarded by the class of 
engineers who are employed for local works of sew¬ 
erage. 

The most essential condition to be sought in all 
work of this class is the utmost possible thoroughness. 
Without wishing in any way to reflect on the char¬ 
acter of the management of sewer construction in 
the country generally, and having no doubt that 
there are many engineers who manage the details 
of their work with equal care, I would seriously 
advise the authorities of any town where the organ¬ 
ization of a complete system of sewerage is contem¬ 
plated, to visit the works now being carried on in 
Providence, Rhode Island, under the very thorough 
management of Mr. J. Herbert Shedd. One may 
learn here, better than in any other place with which 
I am familiar, the real meaning of the word “ thor¬ 
oughness ” as applied to sewer construction. 

The city supplies all the material used, selling 
these at established rates to the contractors, and it 
then devotes the energies of competent inspectors to 
securing the nearest approach to perfection that is 
possible in every branch of the supply department. 
All cement bought is subject to the condition that, 
after having been properly mixed with as little 
water as practicable and exposed half an hour to 
the air and then immersed twenty-four hours in 


182 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

water, it shall stand a traction strain of sixty pounds 
to the square inch. Every barrel received at the 
dock is numbered, sampled, and tested, and not one 
is allowed to be used which breaks with less than 
this strain. Every barrel not coming fully up to 
the standard is thrown on the hands of the parties 
supplying it. Sewer pipes are required to be of the 
requisite thickness and hardness, and practically true 
in form ; if pipes are delivered which are defective 
in any one of these respects, they are rejected. All 
bricks bought are to have a certain high average of 
quality and form, and to contain a due proportion 
of extra hard specimens, and none too soft for the 
best work. If the lot is defective, when measured 
by this standard, the manufacturer must seek 
another market for them. Accepted lots of brick 
are sorted into different qualities according to form 
and hardness, the very hardest being used for the 
bottom of the sewer where the greatest friction is 
to be resisted, and the less hard ones (none approach 
softness) for the upper parts of the work. Mr. 
Shedd frequently uses tubular inverts made of 
earthen-ware like sewer pipes. A chief objection 
generally urged against these is that their form is 
so much affected by warping in manufacture that 
they do not constitute a good foundation for true 
brick work, but at the Providence depot only the 
really perfect ones are accepted. And it is no doubt 
very often from what has been rejected there that 
the usual supply of the market has to be drawn. 

It is undoubtedly, to a certain extent, to the dis« 


THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS. 


183 


advantage of other places that the Providence re¬ 
jections are so copious, for what is there discarded 
is not wasted, — only sold to those who are less par¬ 
ticular. But it would be decidedly to the advantage 
of any town undertaking works of this sort to place 
themselves at once in the category of those who in¬ 
sist on having the very best material or none. 

1 have heard contractors who are accustomed to 
the slap-dash manner of sewer building, that pre¬ 
vails over the country generally, complain bitterly 
that the Providence engineers and inspectors are so 
rigid concerning every detail of the work that a 
contract undertaken there is very apt not to be 
profitable. At the same time there seems to be no 
lack of contractors, who are willing to do the work 
of this city in the manner demanded of them, and 
the result has been no doubt as nearly perfect as 
any sewage work in this country. 

While much of the quality of any public work is 
due to the chief engineer having it in charge, and 
to the regulations that he establishes for securing 
good material and good workmanship, an even 
more important duty falls upon the inspectors, for 
it is they who are to watch the quality of every item 
of the material and the character of every foot of 
the work. However good the regulations which 
they are charged with carrying out, these regula¬ 
tions will be of but little value unless the carrying 
out is thorough and conscientious, and is entirely 
uninfluenced by the seductive efforts of contractors 
to secure their neglect of duty or obliquity of vision. 


184 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

As the weakest link of a chain is the measure of 
its strength, so is the weakest part of a drain or 
sewer the measure of its permanent usefulness. It 
does not suffice that the work is on the whole good 
and reliable, — it must be good and reliable in every 
part. 

Many pages might be written concerning the de¬ 
tails of the art of sewer making, but I propose to 
leave the whole of this part of the subject to the 
technical works in which it has already been so well 
treated — except to say that there is in this country 
a quite universal tendency to excessive expenditure 
in the thickness of the walls of sewers. When the 
brick and cement are of good quality, and when a 
proper natural, or artificial foundation is secured, it 
is not necessary to make the wall thicker than one 
ninth of the interior diameter of the sewer, or as 
nearly this as the thickness of the material will 
allow'. A single course of brick (four inches) is 
ample for the wall of a three foot sewer, but if the 
sewer is made larger than this, it will be necessary 
to increase the thickness to eight inches up to a 
diameter of six feet, and to add another course of 
brick if the sewer is larger than six feet. 

The main sewer in Saratoga, nearly two miles 
long, and traversing ground of very varying quality, 
has a uniform diameter of three feet, and is made 
throughout its whole length (except at one point 
where unusual pressure may, under certain circum¬ 
stances arise), only four inches thick. An inspec¬ 
tion made after the completion of the work shows 


THE CONSTRUCTION OF SEWERS. 


185 


an absolute continuity of wall and regularity of 
form, save in one sliort stretch where, from the con¬ 
tractor's neglect of properly sheet-piling quicksand, 
there is a slight deflection, not enough, however, 
to require the re-laying of the sewer. 

All who are interested in the control of sewage 
works should adopt it as their leading principle to 
secure a well considered and suitable plan; to in¬ 
trust its execution to a conscientious and competent 
local engineer; and to secure inspectors who will 
make it practically certain that every department 
shall be thoroughly and faithfully executed, in spite 
of the skillful efforts of old contractors to secure an 
opportunity to “ scamp ” their work. 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 

The various items of the work of draining the 
house concern both the architect and the engineer. 
The latter, in so far as it relates to the admission 
into the public works of sewerage of the liquid ref¬ 
use of the house, and the making of the necessary 
provisions to prevent any injury being done to the 
public interest by reason of careless or improper 
connection or the admission of improper substances ; 
the former from the still more important considera¬ 
tions connected with the proper arrangement of the 
house as a domicile for human beings. 

The architect should concern himself especially 
with all that relates to disposition of the necessary 
wastes and offscourings of domestic life. Whether 
it be a question only of disposing of the kitchen 
wastes or whether the most complete plumbing ap¬ 
pliances are to be introduced, every part of the 
work should be so planned as to accomplish his pur¬ 
pose completely, entirely, and permanently, with 
due precaution against the entailing upon the occu< 
pants of the house of the evil results that a badly 
arranged system will be sure to produce. 

It would be impossible in the short space of this 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 187 

chapter to give in detail all that may be needed un¬ 
der the great variety of circumstances arising in a 
varied practice. All that can be hoped, is so to set 
forth the general principles by which the work 
should be guided, the specification of what is to be 
avoided, and some of the more usual processes 
which are to be recommended, as to enable the per¬ 
son having charge of the building to apply his own 
judgment and discretion in the matter in such a 
way as to secure the most satisfactory end. Much 
of what is contained in the first three chapters of 
this work have a direct bearing upon the details of 
house drainage and whatever is here said is to be 
read in the light of the information therein given. 

PLUMBING ARRANGEMENTS, ETC. 

The accompanying diagram shows the simplest 
form in which the plumbing and draining of a 
house can be arranged to render it absolutely safe. 
An important feature of the plan here shown is 
that of providing a separate reservoir of water for 
the supply of each water-closet; this, though not 
unusual, is far from universal, and it is the only 
efficient means for preventing the tainting of the 
main water-supply pipe of the house with the gases 
formed in the basins, and the sucking into the main 
of the foul air above the trap when the water falls 
away in the pipes, as from the opening of cocks in 
the lower part of the house. 

Referring to the diagram (Figure 12), which shows 
the general arrangement of plumbing, etc., it is to be 


See reference to this cut in Chapter XII. The 
arrangement here given is manifestly bad. 



sStlilL i* 


Figure 12. 













































































































THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 189 

said that from a sanitary point of view the most im¬ 
portant feature there shown is a complete ventila¬ 
tion of the drain leading to the sewer, so that by 
no possibility can there be a forcing back into the 
house of gases formed in the sewer or in the main 
drain. As already stated, a usual water trap, no 
matter how deep, does not suffice to secure this. A 
water trap having a bend of even two feet would 
resist a pressure of only about one pound to the 
square inch, while the sudden filling of the sewer, 
by rising tide or falling rain, to such an extent as 
to reduce its air space one half, would bring to bear 
a pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch; 
and whether the filling be sudden or gradual, the 
degree to which the increased pressure would affect 
any given outlet would depend on the facilities of¬ 
fered elsewhere for the air to find vent. In our 
ordinary town sewerage works, it is never safe for 
the householder to depend on other vents than his 
own connecting drain being available; he must in 
self-defense assume that his own drain is the only 
channel of escape, and make it impossible that air 
escaping there should find its way into the house. 

Where severe frosts are not to he guarded 
against , this may be accomplished by discharging 
the water of the house into a receptable that is 
open at its surface, and from which a drain passes 
to the sewer with some form of trap; into this sur¬ 
face opening, for greater cleanliness, a rain-water 
pipe from the roof should discharge. Under this 
arrangement, if sewer gas is forced from the drain 


190 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

it will escape into the outer air. The chief objec¬ 
tion to the plan lies in the fact that su«h escape 
would too often take place where it would be offen¬ 
sive, and sometimes too near an important window. 
A much better plan is to furnish a fresh-air inlet 
at the lower end of the soil pipe or house drain 
which will supply a purifying current of air through 
the whole length of the soil pipe. Some form of 
covered grease-trap, or flush-tank may be used, with 
a ventilator not less than two inches in diameter, 
and by the straightest available course, from this 
to a point well above the highest dormer windows. 
An opening should be made for fresh air in the 
cover of the grease-trap. 

WATER-CLOSETS. 

Dr. Simon, in his report of 1874, states the fol¬ 
lowing as imperative conditions that should be in¬ 
sisted on wherever water-closets are allowed : — 

“ 1. That the closets will universally receive an 
unfailing sufficiency of water properly supplied to 
them. 

“ 2. That the comparatively large volume of sew¬ 
erage that the system produces can be in all re¬ 
spects satisfactorily disposed of. 

“ 3. That on all premises which the system brings 
into connection with the common sewers, the con¬ 
struction and keeping of the closets and other drain¬ 
age relations will be subject to skilled direction and 
control.” 

In his explanatory remarks he states : That a suf 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 191 

ficient supply of water is a supply that will enable 
each closet to be well flushed whenever used, and 
that the supply must be not only professedly, but 
actually constant. The best way to secure this is 
to supply to each closet from an independent cistern 
immediately above it. That every privy drain must 
be properly trapped and ventilated, and properly 
constr ucted, —ventilation of the soil pipe above the 
roof being imperative. That wherever practicable 
the connection between the house drain and the 
sewer should be through a trapped, open gully cov¬ 
ered with a grating. He considers the ordinary 
water-closet thoroughly unreliable for those who are 
unlikely to take proper care of it, or who are too 
poor to keep it in repair, — no form of indoor privy 
should be allowed for this class, and even in the best 
houses water-closets should never be so placed that 
they cannot have outside windows. 

For classes from whom the ordinary water-closet 
should be withheld, some suitable form of water- 
closet specially constructed for them, and constantly 
superintended by the public authorities, seems to be 
under the proper circumstances the best convenience 
yet devised. 

The water-closet should never be supplied direct 
from the water main, but always from a separate 
reservoir, so that there shall be no danger of the 
sucking back of the contents of the pan when the 
water falls, as it so frequently does, from the supply 
pipes. 

Dr. Hill, the medical officer of health for Bir- 


192 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

mingham, in a paper on sanitary improvements says: 
“ What I wish to bring out prominently is, that 
water-closets being in direct communication with 
the sewers, which they imperfectly close when the 
valve is at rest, and actually open when it is in 
action, and being placed in the interior of houses, 
must inevitably be the means of introducing poi¬ 
sonous sewer-gas into dwellings, and so act as a 
source of danger and injury. The question then, 
arises, how are their ill-effects to be guarded against ? 
I think best in one of two ways (traps, it is admit¬ 
ted, are such in more senses than one, and are use¬ 
less) ; either by having them quite detached from 
the house, or partially so by double doors and inter¬ 
vening lobby, with good cross ventilation.” 

Dr. De Chaumont says, 44 Under no circumstances 
ought there to be a closet opening directly into a 
bedroom, the merely occasional convenience of such 
an arrangement being more than counterbalanced 
by its danger and generally objectionable situation. 
In some houses, however, particularly in older houses 
in towns, I have seen this arrangement, not only 
in single instances, but in all the closets of the 
house, so that access to one was only obtainable 
through a bed-room. Almost equally objectionable 
is the arrangement where the closet opens on to the 
lobby or landing close to the bedrooms or sitting- 
rooms, a plan both unhealthy and in every way of¬ 
fensive.” 

The usual 44 pan ” closet is in several ways ob¬ 
jectionable; chiefly as containing in the chamber 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 


193 


beneath the pan a certain quantity of fouled water 
above which is an unventilated air space, sometimes, 
from imperfect construction, leaking its gases into 
the room, and always sending up a foetid whiff 
when the pan is tipped. 

The Jennings closet, shown herewith (Figure 13), 
has the peculiarity that 


it contains directly un¬ 
der the seat the whole 
charge of water to be 
used for the flushing at 
each operation of the 
closet. Faecal matters 
are immediately im¬ 
mersed and so at once 
somewhat disinfected, 
and on the lifting of the 
valve the whole volume 
is rapidly carried away 
through the water trap 
into the soil pipe. The 
whole apparatus, from 
the seat to the soil pipe, 
is a single piece of 
earthen-ware, and the 
valve is held so firmly 
in its place by its own 
weight and by that of 
the water bearing upon 



Ciosed, 


hit 



Open. 

Figure 13. 


it, that if proper vent is given to the soil pipe itself, 
bo that the pressure of sewer air cannot be brought 
























































194 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

to bear upon it, and so that its trap cannot be si¬ 
phoned out, there is no probability of the least es¬ 
cape into the room. If the soil pipe is not venti¬ 
lated, the Jennings closet is the worst of all. In 
any case it should always be supplied with some 
arrangement like Blunt’s siphon-overflow cap. (See 
chapter XII.) 

SOUL-PIPE VENTILATORS. 

As is sufficiently explained in other sections of 
this book, the cardinal remedy for the sanitary evils 
arising from the invasion of houses by the poisonous 
gases of sewers and drains, lies in the thorough ven¬ 
tilation of soil pipes by pipes opening through the 
roof into the free air. 

Such ventilating pipes should be made of some 
permanent material. Earthen-ware is objectionable, 
lead and cast-iron are good and reasonably durable. 
Zinc—and consequently the zinc coating of galvan¬ 
ized iron — is very subject to decay under the action 
of the corrosive gases issuing from soil pipes. When 
galvanized iron pipes are used, they should be 
thickly coated with paint on their insides. If a 
free current of air passes constantly through such 
a pipe, — taken in from an opening in the waste 
pipe or catch basin outside of the house, and dis¬ 
charged above the roof by a large pipe, — the for¬ 
mation of corrosive gases will be much reduced. 
In northern latitudes the effect of frost must be 
guarded against. 

It is especially important that soil pipe ventila¬ 
tors should be as nearly straight and vertical as pos- 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 


195 


sible ; a crooked ventilator pipe will not “ draw ” 
any more than will a badly built chimney flue, nor 
even so well, as it lacks the heat of a fire to set up 
a current. 


GREASE TRAPS. 


There are various forms of grease trap which 
serve a good and useful purpose. The best that has 
come to my no¬ 
tice is that shown 
in the accompa¬ 
nying diagram. 

It is made of 
well -cemented 
brick-work, and 
need not be more 

than from four to sNE 
. „ , . ,. 
six teet in diame¬ 
ter (according to ^ 
the liberality 
with which water 
is to be used in the 
house. It must 
be absolutely wa¬ 
ter-tight. It should be placed close to the house, so 
that there shall be the least practicable length of 
drain pipe to accumulate grease, — allowing it to 
flow hot into the trap, where it will float at the sur¬ 
face of the liquid, at a point at least a foot above 
the mouth of the bent outlet pipe. Any solid ref¬ 
use will have ample room at the bottom of the trap, 










































































196 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

well below the outlet. I have not found it neces¬ 
sary to clean out my trap (made in this way) more 
often than once a year. Indeed, the solid deposit, 
being organic matter, decomposes and forms ammo¬ 
nia, which helps to dissolve the grease and make it 
soluble, so that both the deposit and the scum are 
constantly being washed away. It would be well 
to run a rain-water spout into this trap to help 
cleanse it, and if it is not near a window, its best 
ventilation would be by a grating in its top-stone. 

THE DISPOSAL OF HOUSE SLOPS. 

Obviously, no form of grease trap or tight cess¬ 
pool can serve for the final disposal of house slops. 
It is only an intermediary step in a process whose 
further course it is very important to direct. The 
treatment of this matter has been so successful at 
my own house, that the system there in use seems 
worth describing in this connection. 

The house drainage is discharged into a tightly 
cemented tank four feet deep and four feet in diam¬ 
eter, entering near its top, which is arched over 
and closed by a tightly fitting stone cap, and thor¬ 
oughly ventilated. This tank is similar to that 
described above. Its outlet pipe, starting from a 
point one foot below the surface of the water and 
about two feet below the cap-stone, passes out near 
the surface of the ground and is continued by a 
cemented vitrified pipe to a point about twenty-five 
feet farther away. Here it connects with a system 
of open-jointed drain tiles, consisting of one main 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 197 

fifty feet long, and ten lateral drains six feet 
apart and each about twenty feet long. These 
drains underlie a part of the lawn, and are only 
about ten inches below the surface. During the 
whole growing season their course is very distinctly 
marked by the rank growth of grass over and near 



to them, the difference of growth in their imme¬ 
diate vicinity being so great that were the work 
to be done over again, I should place the lines 
but three feet apart. The slope of the ground is 
very slight, probably not more than fifteen inches 
between the extreme ends of the system, yet, judg- 












198 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

mg by the growth, the distribution is very uniform 
through all the pipes, — main and laterals. 

The arrangement of these drains is shown in 
Figure 15, an arrangement suited to the condi¬ 
tions of the place, but sufficiently illustrating the 
general principle. 

I supposed, when I first adopted Mr. Moule’s 
suggestion to make this disposition of the house 
sewage, that some other arrangement would be nec¬ 
essary, for the winter season, but even during the 
winter of 1874-75,— the coldest for many a long 
year, — the liquid has been perfectly disposed of, 
and has apparently found its outlets equally in all 
parts of the drainage. (See chapter XII.) J> • 

Successful though this experiment has been, I 
have recentty adopted a small Field's flush-tank, in 
the belief that the system would be improved by 
having the discharge made intermittent, so that the 
flow of water, being more copious, should saturate 
the ground for a greater distance, and that, with 
considerable intervals during which there is no flow, 
there would be a complete aeration of the ground. It 
was put in November, 1875. Its effect on the lawn- 
growth has not been especially marked, but it has 
thus far acted with the greatest regularity, and is 
a most satisfactory arrangement. 

The accompanying illustration (Figure 16) shows 
the construction of Field’s patent self-acting flush- 
tank (here referred to), which is intended to be 
placed immediately outside of the walls of the 
house and to receive all of its liquid wastes. It is 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 


199 


made entirely of earthen-ware or cast iron. The 
Liquids pass through the grating of the pan J5, and 
are discharged through a trap that prevents the 
contained air of the vessel from escaping at the 
surface. C is a ventilating pipe to carry this con¬ 
tained air to the top of the house. A is a vessel 
holding a certain amount of water which has no 
escape save through the siphon D. When the 
chamber is entirely filled, the pouring in of a few 



extra quarts of water, which is sure to occur some¬ 
time during the day, brings the siphon into action, 
and it flows copiously until the chamber is empty 
to the depth below which solid matters are per¬ 
mitted to accumulate, to be occasionally cleared out 
on removing the pan B. 

The purpose of this apparatus is to prevent the 
constant trickling away of the small stream usually 



































































200 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

flowing from the house with too little movement to 
carry forward obstructing matters, such as are sure 
sooner or later to clog any ordinary house drain. 
It also furnishes a sufficiently strong flow to secure 
a wide distribution of the liquid instead of allow¬ 
ing it to soak slowly into a small area of soil. 
From its intermittent action, also, it fills the 
ground for a short time, and then as the liquid sub¬ 
sides fresh atmospheric air enters the soil and as¬ 
sists, by its oxidizing action, in the work of purifi¬ 
cation. Whether the irrigation be on the surface 
or by means of underground pipes, this copious in¬ 
termittent discharge is in every way preferable to 
the steady small flow. 

English engineers who have paid much attention 
to this subject, seem to have settled on this inter¬ 
mittent application of sewage to the soil, with the 
accessory, in the warmer and more dangerous sea¬ 
sons, of the action of the roots of plants, as the best 
means for defecating all liquid wastes. 

At a recent meeting of the French Horticultural 
Society, there was a discussion as to the influence of 
plants on water containing putrefying organic mat¬ 
ter ; and evidence was adduced to show that while 
such water left to itself retains its putrescent char¬ 
acter, the same water in which the roots of growing 
plants are feeding loses entirely the bacteria which 
accompany putrescence and contains only the larger 
infusoriae which are peculiar to wholesome water. 
It was sufficient to allow a living root to act for five 
days for the water to lose all its bad smell and to 
become purified. 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 


201 


HOUSE VENTILATION. 

Incidentally to the seclusion of sewer air from 
our houses, we have to consider the subject of gen¬ 
eral ventilation, — a subject that has been more be- 
muddled and befogged by quasi scientific treatment 
than any other connected with domestic life, unless 
it be the much vexed and generally misunderstood 
subject of sewerage itself. 

The best practical statement I have met about ven¬ 
tilation was contained in the remark of a mining* 
engineer in Pennsylvania: “ Air is like a rope ; you 
can pull it better than you can push it.” All me¬ 
chanical appliances for pushing air into a room or 
a house are disappointing. What we need to do is 
to pull out the vitiated air already in the room; 
the fresh supply will take care of itself if means 
for its admission are provided. 

It has been usual to withdraw the air through 
openings near the ceiling, that is, to carry off the 
warmer and therefore lighter portions, leaving the 
colder strata at the bottom of the room. This 
serves to purify the air but it is very wasteful of 
heat, and causes too great variations of tempera¬ 
ture above and below. Much the better plan would 
usually be to draw this lower air out from a point 
near the floor, allowing the upper and warmer por¬ 
tions to descend and take its place. 

An open fire with a large chimney throat, is the 
nest ventilator for any room ; the one half or two 
\hirds of the heat carried up the chimney is the 
price paid for immunity from disease; and large 


202 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

though this seems from its daily draft on the wood- 
pile or the coal-bin, it is trifling when compared with 
doctors’ bills and with the loss of strength and effi¬ 
ciency that invariably result from living in unven¬ 
tilated apartments. 

In ventilation, care should be taken to avoid 
drafts, not alone from the danger of taking cold as 
a consequence of sitting in a draft, but even more 
from the fact that persons inconvenienced by cur¬ 
rents of air close the ventilating apertures as the 
easiest means of getting relief, and so subject them¬ 
selves to contaminations of the atmosphere which, 
in addition to their other bad effects, are far more 
active in producing colds than even the drafts them¬ 
selves. Dr. De Chaumont in his papers on Habita¬ 
tions says : — 

“ Usually a current at the rate of one and a half 
to two feet per second, equal to walking through 
still air at the rate of one to one and a half miles 
per hour, is hardly perceived ; two and a half to 
three feet per second is distinctly perceptible (equal 
to walking one and three quarters to two miles per 
hour in still air) ; and four to five feet per second 
(equal to walking two and three quarters to three 
and a half miles per hour) is a positive draught. 
Our object, therefore, ought to be in supplying an 
air space with fresh air, to take care that the 
current should nowhere exceed two feet per second 
in the room itself, and should be kept as near as 
possible at five feet per second at the point of en¬ 
trance. I have already shown that 3,000 cubic feet 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 


203 


per hour are necessary for each occupant of an air 
space to preserve good hygienic conditions, and it 
will therefore be easy to calculate the size of the 
openings required for entrance. If we had an open 
ing of one square foot of area, and the air coming 
in at five feet per second, this would obviously give 
us five cubic feet of air per second, or, as there are 
3,600 seconds in an hour, 5x3,600=18,000 cubic 
feet of air per hour. But as we ask for only 3,000 
cubic feet for each person, one sixth of this will be 
enough, so that instead of the opening re¬ 

quiring to have a sectional area of one square foot, 
it will be necessary to have only one sixth of a 
square foot, or twenty-four square inches. Again, 
it being quite obvious that if a certain amount of 
air finds its way in, an equal bulk of air must find 
its way out, we must have at least as much opening 
for the exit as for the entrance of air, so that alto¬ 
gether the sectional area of ventilation openings re¬ 
quire to be one third of a square foot, or forty-eight 
square inches for each occupant of an air space.” 

The shape and arrangement of ventilating tubes 
is very important. The aim should always be to re¬ 
duce friction as much as possible; which is to be 
accomplished by givingthe smallest possible circum¬ 
ference to the area of the air space. Round pipes 
have less circumference to their sectional area than 
have oval ones, and square pipes have the same ad¬ 
vantage over those of oblong section. 

The following table serves to show the relative 
friction in pipes of different forms. 


204 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS, 


Shape of Section. 

Area. 

Total length of per- 

ipher. 

Coefficient of fric¬ 

tion, circle being 
1.000. 

Circle. 

100 

35 45 

1.000 

Ellipse, E=t. 

100 

35.67 

1.006 

Duodecagon. 

100 

38.86 

1.012 

Heptagon. 

100 

36.72 

1.036 

Hexagon . 

100 

37.22 

1.050 

Pentagon. 

100 

38.12 

1.075 

Square . 

100 

40.00 

1.128 

Rectangle (sides 4:5). 

100 

45.41 

1.2S1 

Equilateral triangle. 

100 

45.59 

1.286 

Right angled isosceles triangle . . 

100 

48.28 

1.362 


Original Area of Single Opening. 

No. of parts into 
which the origi¬ 
nal opening is 
divided. 

Area of each part. 

Total area of parts. 

1 square foot. 

2 

0.707 

1.414 

1 square foot. 

3 

0.574 

1.732 

1 square foot. 

4 

0.500 

2.000 

1 square foot. 

5 

0.459 

2.236 

1 square foot. 

6 

0.408 

2.449 

1 square foot. 

7 

0.378 

2.646 

1 square foot. 

8 

0.353 

2.828 

1 square foot. 

9 

0.333 

3.000 

1 square foot. 

10 

0.316 

3.162 

1 square foot. 

11 

0.302 

3.317 

1 square foot. 

12 

0.289 

3.464 


These tables are taken from the section on Ventilation of Dr. De 
Chaumont’s papers on “ Hygiene.” 

The relative ventilating capacity of openings is 
in proportion to the square roots of their areas. 










































THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 


205 


One opening of one square foot will deliver twice as 
much air as will four openings of one fourth square 
foot each. The foregoing table shows the size that 
must be given to each of a number of openings to 
make them equally effective with one opening a 
foot square. 

Ventilation is much more effective through a sin- 

O 

gle pipe than through several pipes having an equal 
aggregate sectional area. 

Every bend in a ventilating tube increases the 
resistance to the current and the resistance is pro¬ 
portionate to the angle of the bend. 

The admission of fresh air to supply the place of 
that which is withdrawn is an imperative necessity, 
and in tightly built modern houses cracks and cran¬ 
nies for this purpose are wanting. It is not unusual 
in modern houses supplied with furnaces, especially 
where there is no public sewerage, to find such an 
arrangement of closet and kitchen drains as permits 
the escape of some of their dangerous gases immedi¬ 
ately into, or into the vicinity of, the mouth of the 
cold-air box which supplies the furnace, and the 
flues which furnish the interior of the house with its 
heated air. 

In a house warmed by a furnace the supply from 
the registers is usually sufficient to feed the chim¬ 
ney, and if the furnace chamber draws its air from 
the outer atmosphere, from an unfouled locality, 
and by all means not from a cellar, the only objec¬ 
tion lies in the character of ordinary furnace heat¬ 
ing. Concerning this it need be said here only that 


206 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

iron heated by hot water is better than iron heated 
by the direct action of fire, and that, if water-pipes 
be not used, wrought iron is a much safer material 
than cast-iron for the transmission of the heat. 

In all houses which are connected with cess-pools 
or public sewers, especial pains should be taken 
to supply enough fresh air for the fires through some 
efficient means of communication with the outer at¬ 
mosphere. Otherwise, there is danger that they 
will feed themselves from badly trapped communi¬ 
cations with the drain. 

Sunlight is the handmaiden of ventilation and 
fresh air. Indeed, ample sunlight and the avoid¬ 
ance of a damp soil may be taken as the very fun¬ 
damental conditions of healthy living. 

In the lying-in hospital in Dublin the mortality 
of new-born infants during twenty-five years pre¬ 
ceding its ventilation was one in six. In the twenty- 
five years following the supply of pure air by better 
ventilation, it was one in one hundred and four. 

It seems almost incredible that such striking 
changes should have taken place so recently, but it 
is to be remembered that it is only about one hun¬ 
dred years since ox}^gen was discovered, and hardly 
fifty years since the physiology of respiration was 
made known ; while the fact of injury from breath¬ 
ing foul air is indeed a very recent discovery. 

PRIVATE DRAINS. 

As with almost every department of sewerage 
work so with private drains; the engineer in charge 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINING. 


207 


endeavors to combine in his rules for distinctive 
points all that experience has developed. And as the 
work in Providence is among the most recent in this 
country, I give herewith the regulations proposed 
by Mr. Shedd and adopted by the city government. 
He prefaces them with the following remarks: — 

• • •• •• • ••• 

“No amount of skill, care, and expense in build¬ 
ing the public sewers will relieve the property- 
holder from the necessity of constructing his private 
drains with all possible care. These drains often 
cause, in the aggregate, more trouble, on account of 
imperfect plan and construction, than all the rest of 
a sewerage system. 

• ••••••••• 

“ Although house-drains are laid at the expense 
of the owners of the premises to be drained, the 
4 Rules ’ require the work to be done under the 
permission and supervision of the Water Commis¬ 
sioners, and under the immediate inspection of their 
engineer of private drains ; also that it shall be done 
by a licensed drain-layer, under bond to do faithful 
work. These restrictions have been proved by ex¬ 
perience, in many cities, to be necessary to secure 
housekeepers from the great annoyance to which 
they would otherwise be frequently subjected from 
imperfect arrangement or unfaithful execution.” 

“ 1. Applications for permits to connect with any 
sewer which has been constructed, or which is in 
process of construction, by a committee appointed 
by the Board of Aldermen, must be made in writ- 


208 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


ing to the Water Commissioners by the owners of 
the property to be drained, or by their duly author¬ 
ized attorneys, and must be accompanied by a clear 
description of the premises to be drained, and of the 
drains required, and also by certain agreements, all 
as provided in the printed form of application issued 
by said commissioners. 

“ 2. No one but a drain-layer, duly licensed by 
the water commissioners, will be allowed to make 
connections with the public sewers named in the 
above section, nor to lay any drains in connection 
therewith. 

“ 3. At least twenty-four hours’ notice must be 
given at the office of said commissioners before any 
street or public way can be opened for the purpose 
of laying a private drain. 

“ 4. No drain-pipe can be extended from work 
previously done and accepted, or new connections of 
any kind be made with such work, unless previous 
notice of at least twenty-four hours is given to the 
engineer in charge of private drains. 

u 5. No work of laying drains can be commenced 
or continued unless the permit is on the ground in 
the hands of the drain-layer, or some one employed 
by him. 


“ RULES FOR LAYING DRAINS. 

“ 1. In opening any street or public way, all ma¬ 
terials for paving or ballasting must be removed 
with the least possible injury or loss of the same, 
and, together with the excavated material from the 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINAGE. 209 

trenches, must be placed where they will cause the 
least practicable inconvenience to the public. As 
little as possible of the trench must be dug until the 
junction-piece into the sewer is found, unless it is 
first determined to make a new opening into the 
sewer. 

“ 2. Whenever the sides of the trenches will not 
stand perpendicular, sheeting and braces must be 
used to prevent caving. 

“ 3. No pipes or other materials for the drains 
can be used till they have been examined and ap¬ 
proved by the chief engineer or one of his assist¬ 
ants, or by a duly-authorized inspector. 

“ 4. The least inclination that can be allowed for 
water-closet, kitchen and all other drains of not 
over six inches diameter, liable to receive solid sub¬ 
stances, is one half an inch in two feet; and for 
cellar or other drains, to receive water only, one 
quarter of an inch in two feet. All drains to be 
laid at a grade of not over one half an inch in two 
feet, between the sewers and the sidewalks. 

“ 5. The ends of all pipes not to be immediately 
connected with water-closets, sinks, down-spouts, or 
catch-basins, are to be securely guarded against the 
introduction of sand or earth by brick and cement, 
or other water-tight and imperishable materials. 

“ 6. All pipes that must be left open to drain cel¬ 
lars, areas, yards, or gardens, must be connected 
with suitable catcli-basins of brick, the bottoms of 
which must not be less than two and a half feet be¬ 
low the bottom of the outlet pipe, the diameter not 

14 


210 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

less than three feet, and the form and construc¬ 
tion of which are to be prescribed by the officers 
named in the third rule. When meat-packing¬ 
houses, slaughter-houses, lard-rendering establish¬ 
ments, hotels, or eating-houses, are connected with 
the sewers, the dimensions of the catch-basins will 
be required to be of a large size, according to the 
circumstances of the case. When the end of the 
drain-pipe is connected with a temporary wooden 
catch-basin for draining foundations during the erec¬ 
tion of buildings, the drain-layer will be held re¬ 
sponsible that no dirt or sand is carried into the 
drain or sewer from such temporary catch-basin. 

“ T. No private catch-basin can be built in the 
public street, but must be placed inside of the line of 
the lot to be drained, except when the sidewalks 
are excavated, and used as cellars. 

“8. No privy-vaults can be connected with the 
sewers except through an intervening catch-basin ; 
and the discharge-pipe of the vault must be high 
enough above its bottom to effectually prevent any¬ 
thing but the liquid contents of the vault from pass¬ 
ing into the drain. 

“ 9. The inside of every drain, after it is laid, 
must be left smooth and perfectly clean throughout 
its entire length. 

“ 10. In case it shall be necessary to connect a 
drain-pipe with a public sewer where no junction is 
left in such sewer, the new connection with such 
sewer can only be made either by one of the em¬ 
ployees of the commissioners, or when an officer 


THE DETAILS OF HOUSE DRAINAGE. 211 

named in rule third is present to see the whole of 
the work done. 

“ 11. Whenever it is necessary to disturb a drain 
in actual use, it must in no case be obstructed with¬ 
out the special direction of one of the officers named 
in rule third. No pipe-drain can be laid above the 
bottom of a wooden drain, whether in actual use or 
not, unless the pipe is made to rest either on brick 
or stone, or other suitable support. In no case will 
drain-pipes be allowed to rest on wood or other per¬ 
ishable material. 

“ 12. The back-filling over drains, after they are 
laid, must be puddled, and, together with the re¬ 
placing of ballast and paving, must be done within 
forty-eight hours after the completion of that part 
of the drain lying within the public way, and done 
so as to make them at least as good as they were 
before they were disturbed, and to the satisfaction 
of the commissioners and their engineer; and the 
owner will be held reponsible for any subsequent 
settlement of the ground. All water and gas pipes 
must be protected from injury or settling to the sat¬ 
isfaction of the engineer. 

“ 13. Every drain-layer must inclose any opening 
which he may make in the public streets or ways, 
with sufficient barriers; and must maintain red 
lights at the same at night; and must take all other 
necessary precautions to guard the public effectually 
against all accidents, from the beginning to the end 
of the work ; and can only lay drains on condition 
that he shall use every precaution against acci- 


212 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

dents to persons, horses, vehicles, or property of any 
kind. 

“ 14. In case a water or gas pipe should come in 
the way of a drain, the question of passing over or 
under the water or gas pipe, or of raising or lower¬ 
ing it, must be determined by one of the officers 
named in rule third. In no case can the drain-layer 
be allowed to decide the question himself. 

u 15. No exhaust from steam-engines can be con¬ 
nected with the private or public drains, and no 
blow-off from steam-boilers can be so connected, 
without special permission from the commissioners 
or their engineer. 

“ 16. Such information as the commissioners 
have with regard to the positions of junctions will 
be furnished to drain-layers, but at their risk as to 
the accuracy of the same. 

“ 17. When any change of direction is made in 
the pipe, either in a horizontal or vertical direction, 
curves must be used. No pipe can be clipped in any 
case. 

“ 18. All persons are required to place an effect¬ 
ual trap in the line of drain just before it leaves the 
premises, and to make an open connection with a 
down-spout back of the trap ; also to make an open 
connection with the highest part of the soil pipe 
within the premises, through a large pipe or flue, to 
a point above the roof of the building. 

“ 19. Every person violating any of the provis¬ 
ions of the foregoing rules shall pay a fine of not 
less than twenty nor more than fifty dollars.” 


CHAPTER VH. 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 

The cases are by no means few in which the easi¬ 
est solution of the excrement nuisance problem is 
to be sought through some form of dry conservancjq 
that i3 to say, the admixture of either earth, or coal 
ashes, or other dry household or town refuse, in 
sufficient quantities for complete absorption so that 
the degree of moisture in the material itself may 
be reduced to a point where a healthy decomposi¬ 
tion will be carried on, instead of the foul putrefac¬ 
tion to which the production of offensive and dan¬ 
gerous gases is chiefly due. 

The statements in this chapter, so far as they are 
my own, are based upon an amount of experience 
and observation sufficient to have brought the con¬ 
viction that the advantages of the dry system are 
by no means adequately appreciated either by the 
public at large, or by those having official direction 
of such matters. As the most of what is known 
on the subject is the result of actual experiment, 
and as the investigations upon which the system 
must largely rest in seeking public favor, have been 
chiefly made by officers detailed by the health 
authorities of England, it has seemed best to in¬ 
sert extracts from foreign health reports, sanitary 


214 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

journals, etc., giving the accounts of these investi¬ 
gations in the language of those who have made 
them. An attempt to condense these various state¬ 
ments, while it might lead to the avoidance of repe¬ 
tition, would probably detract from the force of the 
facts and experience stated. 

The systems coming under this head are three in 
number. 

1. Moule’s Earth-Closet System. 

2. The Goux Earth-Tub System. 

3. The Ash-closet, which is largely used in ?er- 
tain manufacturing districts in England. 

These will be considered separately with such evi¬ 
dence, favorable or unfavorable, as I have been able 
to obtain. 

moule’s earth-closet system. 

The use of the earth in closets, under the meth¬ 
ods now so well known, is the invention of the Rev. 
Henry Moule, Vicar of Fordington, England. It 
has been subjected to a very active public discus¬ 
sion during ten years past, and has had many trials 
in public and private establishments, and in one 
or two cases in whole villages. On the whole, its 
progress has been quite as rapid and secure as could 
have been prudently hoped for. Its introduction 
into this country dates back to the year 1868, and 
although it has not proved a profitable investment 
for the company who so energetically presented it 
to public notice, it is constantly and steadily win 


the dry conservancy system. 215 

ning its way as being obviously the best available 
system for certain circumstances ; while the enco¬ 
miums which it has received from those who have 
experienced its benefits here, have not been less 
satisfactory than those which have attended its in¬ 
troduction in Great Britain. 

Fortunately I am qualified to write on this sub¬ 
ject from large experience extending over the whole 
period of its use in America, but what I say in its 
favor is to be accepted in the light of the fact that I 
was among the earliest of its champions, had a pe¬ 
cuniary interest in its success, and have still (aside 
from the hope of profit which I fear vanished long 
ago) a very earnest desire to see it meet with the 
general recognition to which it seems entitled. 

For seven years past I have, at my own residence, 
depended entirely upon some form of earth-closet, 
and in my present house have had in operation for 
five years, winter and summer, two closets in con¬ 
stant daily use, — one on each floor of the house, 
with such success that I would on no account ex¬ 
change them for the water-closet which is so univer¬ 
sally used among my neighbors. The manner in 
which these closets are arranged will be described 
under the appropriate heading, and it may be well 
to refer here to the description already given (page 
196) of the way in which all the liquid wastes of 
the house are disposed of with the help of a Field’s 
flush-tank and irrigating drains. 

Several pages of what follows on this subject are 
taken from an earlier work written in 1869. 


216 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


Before the earth system can be adopted into 
general use, the slight care and attention that its 
success requires must be accepted as an addition to 
the details of domestic and municipal economy. 

The water system with its enormous bills of 
expense for reservoirs, aqueducts, service-pipes, 
plumbing work, and sewers, requires constant su¬ 
pervision and care. Whether in private establish¬ 
ments in the country or in large cities, the details 
of its management require an amount of supervis¬ 
ion and of costly labor which, could they have 
been set forth before the system was anywhere in¬ 
troduced, would have seemed an insuperable objec¬ 
tion to its adoption. Now, they are taken as a 
matter of course, and water-rates and sewer com¬ 
missioners’ taxes are accepted as a necessity of civ¬ 
ilized life, and are paid without demur. 

The earth system promises to do away with the 
necessity for most of these charges, and to produce 
a money result which will more or less repay the 
others. 

At the same time, the perfect carrying out of 
the earth system of sewage will require a certain 
amount of care and some expense, which it will be 
better to consider at the outset. It is not worth 
while to make a comparison between the require¬ 
ments of the two rivals, because the more vital 
considerations, according to which the verdict is to 
be given, are so weighty that the question of rela¬ 
tive cost is comparatively insignificant. 

There are two extreme cases to be considered, 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


217 


and the various conditions that fill the gap between 
them will necessarily resemble one or the other ac¬ 
cording to their magnitude. In all cases, the prin¬ 
ciples are identical. 

1. The earth for use in closets must be dry; not 
necessarily dried by artificial heat, but made as dry 
as it can be by exposure to the air and by the ex¬ 
clusion of rain. 

2. It must contain enough alumina (clay), or or¬ 
ganic matter, or oxide of iron or be sufficiently 
powdery to give it sufficient absorbing power. 

3. It must be sifted of its stones and coarser par¬ 
ticles. 

4. The mechanical arrangement of the closet 
must be such that a sufficient quantity of earth will 
be, with certainty, deposited upon the fasces — 
enough to cover them, and to absorb the urine of 
the single evacuation. And the accumulation under 
the seat must be occasionally raked down or leveled 
off in the vault when an ordinary vault is used. 

5. When the vault or receptacle has become too 
full, its contents must be removed, and before the 
supply is exhausted the reservoir must be refilled. 

6. If the earth is to be again used, its organic 
matter must be destroyed by fermentation, and its 
moisture must be evaporated. 

7. In towns, some system must be adopted for 
the supply of earth and removal of deposits — 
either by the public authorities or by private enter¬ 
prise. 

1. As Mr. Moule very tersely states the case, 


218 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

“ An earth-closet will no more work without dry 
earth than a water-closet will work without water; ” 
but the dryness here referred to is not absolute dry¬ 
ness, for the earth of the closet will always contain 
what moisture may be absorbed from the atmos¬ 
phere. This, and even a little more than this, I 
have found to be not at all objectionable. What is 
required is, according to Professor Joy, that so 
much of the moisture of the faeces shall be immedi¬ 
ately withdrawn from them that there shall be too 
little left to cause an offensive putrefaction. 

The best manner for drying the earth depends 
very much upon the quantity required, and the 
means at command. Two or three cart-loads, which 
will be sufficient for a year’s use of an ordinary 
family, may be taken from a ploughed field or a 
road-side gutter during the dry weather of summer. 
Dumped in an out-of-the-way corner under a 
wood-shed, or in any other dry place, being under¬ 
laid with boards to prevent it from absorbing the 
moisture of the earth, it will soon become suffi¬ 
ciently dry for use, and will remain so throughout 
the dampest and foggiest weather of the w'inter or 
spring. It might be equally well kept in a dry and 
well-ventilated cellar. It may be sifted, little by 
little, as wanted, and it will answer tolerably well 
if it is merely put through the ordinary coal-sifter, 
though something finer would be preferable. My 
sieve has six meshes to the inch; perhaps four 
would do as well. When the earth is sifted, it may 
be stowed away in boxes or barrels in some easily 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM 


219 


accessible place, and there remain until wanted for 
use. This is sufficient for the requirements of a 
private house. 

In preparing for the supply of a large town, it 
would be necessary to procure a land-right, in order 
that deep excavations can be made. The amount 
of earth needed will be very large, and it must, of 
course, be procured in the cheapest way. This will 
be in nearly all cases, by making a clean sweep as 
deep as it is economical to work, and making an 
acre of land produce as much earth as possible. 
The high price of land in the immediate vicinity of 
the town may make it desirable to go to a consider¬ 
able distance, in order to secure cheap land and 
cheap transportation combined. The earth being 
procured, the first drying can be most economically 
done near the spot from which it was taken, by 
simply storing it under rain-tight and well-venti¬ 
lated sheds. It would, perhaps, be well to make 
some provision for rapid, artificial drying in the 
town to provide against emergency and accident. 

2. There is undoubtedly a good deal of differ¬ 
ence in the effectiveness of earths of various com¬ 
position ; though, with a considerable range of ex¬ 
periment and observation, I am inclined to think 
that the kinds of earth which are not suited for use 
in the closet are much fewer than would be gener¬ 
ally supposed. Pure sand and gravel are nearly 
worthless, but I think that any earth that contains 
enough clay or organic matter for the production of 
ordinary crops will answer * the purpose. A nearly 


220 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

pure clay, however, is objectionable from its ten¬ 
dency to absorb moisture from the air. If to be used 
only once, an equal weight of muck or peat may 
be, from its greater bulk, more valuable than clay. 
Suitable clay could probably be re-used many more 
times, and so would be cheaper for use in towns. 
Without being able to give a definite scientific rea¬ 
son for the opinion, I think that a clay loam, highly 
charged with oxides of iron (notably reddish clay 
loams), would be the best. In my own experience, 
( have found anthracite coal ashes to answer a per¬ 
fectly good purpose, — especially after one use in 
the closet has dampened them enough to lay their 
dust. 

3. The sifting of the earth is, as I have shown, a 
very simple matter when it is a question merely of 
the supply of a single household. When large 
quantities are required, it would be the most eco¬ 
nomical plan to adopt revolving screens, such as are 
used for cleaning coal at mines, the construction be¬ 
ing similar to that of the bolting screen of a com¬ 
mon flour-mill. Such a screen should be, probably, 
twenty feet long, the first half of its length being 
furnished with quarter-inch meshes, and the next 
with half-inch meshes. Stones and very large 
lumps would be discharged at the end of the 
screen ; the coarser particles passing through the 
half-inch mesh might be broken up in a stamping- 
mill and resifted. If the screening-house were 
built in a side hill, so that carts could lead directly 
to the screen, and the prepared earth fall to a story 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 221 

below, much necessity for shoveling would be ob¬ 
viated. 

4. Concerning the mechanical arrangement for 
the closet, I am more and more inclined to the 
opinion that Mr. Moule’s device is the only one 
that will be effective under all circumstances. Pos¬ 
sibly variations in the size of the “chucker” (by 
which the quantity of earth used is measured), ac¬ 
cording to the quality of the earth, may be found 
to be desirable. Whether this apparatus is used or 
whether we depend on covering with a hand-scoop, 
the quantity should be regulated by the quantity 
of urine to be absorbed, and at each urination 
earth should be thrown down, to prevent undue 
moisture. 

In an ordinary broad vault the deposits will nat¬ 
urally form a heap under the seat. This must be, 
now and then, leveled off, and the surface exposed 
by the leveling should be thinly covered with the 
drier earth near the sides of the vault. Probably 
under no ordinary circumstances would it be neces¬ 
sary to do this oftener than twice in a month. In 
the commode and the up-stairs closet, it will never 
be necessary. With the Broadmoor tank, or larger 
vault, it will be. 

5. Just as it is requisite to empty a cess-pool, or 
fill the tank over a water-closet, as occasion re¬ 
quires, so it is necessary to supply fresh earth to 
the earth-closet, and carry away the accumulation. 
The details of this work are too simple to need at¬ 
tention here. 


222 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Iii the case of towns, where the system is in any¬ 
thing like general use, the care of the closets should 
devolve almost exclusively upon associations or in¬ 
dividuals engaged in the business of earth supply. 
Having, as a gardener, undertaken this in Newport 
for the sake of the manure to be obtained, I am al¬ 
ready convinced that in all places where manure 
has even a moderate value, it will be unnecessary 
to make a charge for the earth and attendance. 
The preparation of the earth and the amount of 
transportation constitute a trifling tax when com¬ 
pared with the value of the product. When the 
business increases, so that the time of a man and 
a horse and cart will be constantly empk^ed, 
the details can be somewhat simplified, and the 
rounds made with more regularity ; the only pre¬ 
caution necessary being, to have always an abun¬ 
dant supply of earth ready in advance, so that pro¬ 
tracted wet weather will not require regular deliv¬ 
ery to be postponed in order to make use of the 
first fair weather for securing earth. 

Wherever the demand is sufficient for the busi¬ 
ness to be regularly systematized, the earth may be 
delivered as ordered, just as coal is now delivered 
from coal-yards, and it would be proper to make a 
charge for “ carrying in,” as in handling coal. If 
the cart is suitably covered against rain, it is most 
convenient to carry the earth in bags. These may 
be emptied into a bin in the cellar, from which com- 
mode-hods are supplied, or into the hoist-box of 
the up-stairs closets, or they may be carried t<? 
sdosets on the upper floors of houses. 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


223 


The deposits may be removed in baskets, and 
emptied into the cart on its returning rounds. Bar¬ 
rels are too heavy for one man to handle, and are 
less convenient than bags for filling closet-reser 
voirs. 

In places where manure has not sufficient value 
to pay the cost of attendance, the charge necessary 
to make a profitable business of attending to a con¬ 
siderable number of closets would be much less 
than the water rates and plumbers’ bills that are 
an inseparable part of the water system. If ashes 
are used, the addition of the closet manure to them 
will not materially increase the cost of their hand¬ 
ling, and it will give them a value which they do 
not now possess. 

6. In the country where the manure is to be ap¬ 
plied directly to the garden, it will be perhaps bet¬ 
ter to use the earth but once, as there is an advan¬ 
tage in having it as bulky as possible for more even 
distribution ; but even in this case it should not be 
applied in its fresh state. It should be first thrown 
into a bin or into barrels, in which it will retain its 
moisture long enough for perfect fermentation. In 
this way its paper will be destroyed, and its fsecal 
matter will be diffused throughout the mass and 
absorbed by the earth; while the earth itself will 
have its own fertilizing constituents developed by 
the decomposition going on within it. When ready 
for use, the earth will be nearly indistinguishable 
from that freshly taken from the field; but its ma- 
nurial power will be materially increased. If the 


224 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

manure is to be sold in the market or is to be 
transported to any distance, it should be repeatedly 
used, in order that its value may be as much as 
possible increased. The deposits taken from the 
closets should be carried to the earth depot, thrown 
into compact heaps, moistened a little, if necessary, 
and left to ferment. After a sufficient time, these 
heaps may be shoveled over, and left to undergo a 
second fermentation. They may then be spread 
out to dry, or, better, removed to a drying-room 
where there is a free circulation of air. After be¬ 
coming dry, the earth may be passed through a 
screen, and the finer parts stored away for further 
use; the small amount of coarser matter may be 
again moistened and fermented. Of this latter, 
the quantity will be very small, and it will consist 
chiefly of dried-up solid faeces, which it may be 
found best to pulverize and use directly as manure, 
or it may be mixed with deposits freshly brought in 
from the closets. It will help the fermentation of 
these, and will be entirely absorbed. 

7. What is the best arrangement for towns and 
villages it is now too early to say; but in any case 
the details of the system would be simple and easy 
of execution. If the value of the manure is enough 
to make the earth business a source of profit, it 
may be safely left to private enterprise; but even 
in this case the sanitary authorities of the town 
should provide for the inspection of closets, espe¬ 
cially among the poorer classes, and it should be 
required that all comply with such provisions as the 
public interest makes necessary. 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


225 


If tlie preservation of the manure is not an ob¬ 
ject, the removal of the accumulations may be pro¬ 
vided for, as is now done in the case of ashes, etc. 
The public authorities should, in all cases, assume 
such control of the matter as to insure the perfect 
working of the system ; but the manner in which 
private establishments shall be supplied with earth 
is a question to be decided by the peculiar circum¬ 
stances of each case. Just as no water-closet should 
be allowed to remain in use without a supply of 
water or with an obstructed soil pipe, so should no 
earth-closet be allowed to become ineffective from 
the neglect of its owner to provide it with earth or 
to have its accumulations removed. It is now nec¬ 
essary, in even the smallest towns, to prevent any 
outrageous neglect of common privies; and the ex¬ 
tension of the same system of inspection to meet 
the requirements of the dry-earth sewage would be 
neither difficult for the authorities nor onerous to 
householders. 

THE MANURE QUESTION AS AFFECTING THE 

EARTH SYSTEM. 

In this connection, the following, which I pub¬ 
lished in 1872, 1 seems worth reproducing : — 

It is a very difficult matter to fix the value of any 
animal manure, except by accurate analysis of each 
separate sample. Opinions as to the value of human 
excrement vary widely according to the standard of 
comparison taken. It is a singular fact (which does 

1 Earth-Closets and Earth Sewage, p. 49. 

15 


0 


226 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

not obtain with reference to most other manures) 
that the valuation of human excrement made by 
chemists is very much less than that of the practi¬ 
cal farmer. For instance, in England, where the 
value of the mineral constituents of the material 
seems to be entirely disregarded, it is usual to meas¬ 
ure the value solely by the amount of ammonia that 
may be produced from it; those parts of night-soil 
which are the key to the lasting fertility of the land 
are not taken into the account, and ammonia alone 
(which, although a most valuable and efficient aid 
to the farmer, counts as nothing in giving perma¬ 
nent fertility) is considered. 

• ••••••••• 

In this connection, I reproduce a portion of an 
article of my own written for Judd’s “ Agricultural 
Annual ” of 1868 : 1 — 

“ The average population of New York city — 
including its temporary visitors — is probably not 
less than 1,000,000. This population consumes food 
equivalent to at least 80,000,000 bushels of corn in 
a year. Excepting the small proportion that is 
stored up in the bodies of the growing young, which 
is fully offset by that contained in the bodies of the 
dead, the constituents of the food are returned to 
the air by the lungs and skin, or are voided as ex¬ 
crement. That which goes to the air was originally 
taken from the air by vegetation, and will be so 
taken again. Here is no waste. The excrement 
contains all that was furnished by the mineral ele- 

1 “ Sewers and Earth-Closets, and their Relation to Agriculture.’* 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


227 


ments of the soil on which the food was produced. 
This all passes into the sewers, and is washed into 
the sea. Its loss, to the present generation, is com- 

“ In the present half-developed condition of the 
world, there is no help for this. The first duty in 
all towns is to remove from the vicinity of habita¬ 
tions all matters which, by their decomposition, 
would tend to produce disease. The question of 
health is, of course, of the first importance, and 
that of economy must follow it; but it should follow 
closely, and perfect civilization must await its solu¬ 
tion. 

“ Thirty million bushels of corn contain, among 
other minerals, nearly seven thousand tons of phos¬ 
phoric acid, and this amount is annually lost in the 
wasted night-soil of New York city. 1 

“ Practically, the human excrement of the whole 
country is nearly all so disposed of as to be lost to 
the soil. The present population of the United 
States is not far from 35,000,000. On the basis of 

the above calculation, their annual food contains 

✓ 

over 200,000 tons of phosphoric acid, being about 
the amount contained in 900,000 tons of bones, 
which, at the price of the best flour of bone (for 

1 Other mineral constituents of food — important ones, too — are 
washed away in even greater quantities through the same channels; but 
this element is the best for illustration, because its effect in manure is 
\he most striking, even so small a dressing as twenty pounds per acre 
producing a marked effect on all cereal crops. Ammonia, too, which is 
so important that it is usual in England to estimate the value of manure 
in exact proportion to its supply of this element, is largely yielded by 
human excrement. 



228 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

manure), would be worth over 850,000,000. It 
would be a moderate estimate to say that the other 
constituents of food found in night-soil are of at 
least equal value with the other constituents of the 
bone, and to assume 850,000,000 as the money value 
of the wasted night-soil of the United States. 

“ In another view, the importance of this waste 
cannot be estimated in money. Money values ap¬ 
ply, rather, to the products of labor, and to the ex¬ 
change of these products. The waste of fertilizing 
matters reaches farther than the destruction or ex¬ 
change of products — it lessens the ability to pro¬ 
duce. 

“ If mill-streams were failing year by year, and 
steam were yearly losing force, and the ability of 
men to labor were yearly growing less, the doom of 
our prosperity would not be more plainly written 
than if the slow but certain impoverishment of our 
soil were sure to continue. 

“ Fortunately, it will not continue always. So 
long as there are virgin soils, this side of the Pacific, 
which our people can ravage at will, thoughtless 
earth-robbers will move West and ‘ till ’ them. But 
the good time is coming, when (as now in China and 
Japan) men must accept the fact that the soil is not 
a warehouse to be plundered — only a factory to be 
worked. Then they will save their raw material, 
instead of wasting it; and, aided by nature’s won¬ 
derful loom, will weave, over and over again, the 
fabric by which we live and prosper. Men will 
build up as fast as men destroy, old matters will be 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 229 

reproduced in new forms, and, as the decaying for¬ 
ests feed the growing wood, so will all consumed 
food yield food again. 

“ The stupendous sewers which have just been 
completed in London at a cost of $20,000,000, and 
which challenge admiration as monuments of engi¬ 
neering achievement, are a great blessing to that 
filth-accursed town, and, in the absence of anything 
better, they might, with advantage, be imitated 
elsewhere. They have had an excellent effect on 
the health of the population, by removing a prolific 
cause of typhoid fever and other fatal diseases. As 
affording needed relief from malaria, they are of im¬ 
mense importance. Still, they are a great (although 
necessary) evil, inasmuch as they wash into the sea 
the manurial products of 3,000,000 people, to sup¬ 
ply whom with food requires the importation of im¬ 
mense quantities of grain and manure. 

“ The wheat market of one half the world is reg¬ 
ulated by the demand in England. She draws food 
from the Black Sea and from California; she uses 
most of the guano of the Pacific islands ; she even 
ransacks the battle-fields of Europe for human 
bones, from which to make fresh bones for her peo¬ 
ple ; and, in spite of all this, her food is scarce and 
high, and bread-riots break out in her towns. 

“ An earnest effort is now being made to use the 
matters discharged through these sewers for the fer¬ 
tilizing of the lands toward the eastern coast. For 
this purpose, it is intended to build a sewer, forty 
miles long and nine and a half feet in diameter 


230 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

which, with the incidental expenses of its construc¬ 
tion and management, will cost about $10,000,000. 
The sewage company have a farm at Barking, on 
which they have experimented very successfully, 
one acre of their irrigated meadows having produced 
nine tons of Italian rye grass in twenty-two days, 
and fifty tons during the past season up to August 
15, with a prospect that the yield for the whole 
season will be, at least, seventy tons from a single 
acre. 

“ The system of sewage irrigation has earnest ad¬ 
herents, and equally earnest opposers. It does seem 
a pity that, for every pound of excrement that is 
given to the land, three or four hundred pounds of 
water must go with it; and it is probable that such 
highly diluted manure can be used with advantage 
only on grass crops. It is further asserted that, as 
the best results can be obtained only by the applica¬ 
tion of from 6,000 to 10,000 tons of the liquid per 
acre, the cost of the process must prevent its gen¬ 
eral adoption. However, the scheme is about to be 
thoroughly tested, and it is to be hoped that its 
success will be such as to secure a return to the soil 
of a vast amount of valuable matter which, hitherto, 
has been worse than thrown away. 

“ The many attempts that have been made to ex¬ 
tract the fertilizing parts of the sewage from the 
deluge of water with which they are diluted, have 
entirely failed of their object. If, as now seems 
probable, the best and cheapest way to remove 
waste matters from large towns is by dilution in 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


231 


large quantities of water, the efforts of agriculturists 
must be directed to the best means of making use 
of the mixture.” 

••••••••«« 

Wherever I have used either the earth from the 
closet or the contents of my filtering-casks, the ef¬ 
fect has been obviously much greater than it would 
have been from the use of the raw material alone. 
A portion of the improvement, no doubt, is due to 
the more even distribution that the increased bulk 
makes possible ; but I am inclined to attach much 
greater importance to a suggestion contained in an 
article prepared by Colonel Weld for the “Agricul¬ 
tural Annual ” for 1870. He says : — 

“ Most soils contain a much larger quantity of 
substances required by the plant than would be 
available in several years’ cropping. These are 
gradually rendered soluble and fit for plant-food by 
weathering year by year. The result of mingling a 
soil with manure which is undergoing active fer¬ 
mentation is to cause decomposition to go on in it 
more rapidly, and so it is certain that a part of the 
benefit arising from the use of soil as an absorbent 
ill stables is that a larger supply of plant-food is 
prepared from the soil and distributed with the ma¬ 
nure.” 

Of course this introduces an element of uncer¬ 
tainty into the calculation, as it is not likely that 
any two soils would yield exactly the same fertiliz- 
‘ng value to the action of decomposing manure ; but 
it is undoubtedly true that any earth not positively 


232 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

barren will be very beneficially affected by the active 
decomposition of faeces and urine within its mass. 

The same article contains the following lucid 
statement of the effect of earth on decomposing or¬ 
ganic matter : — 

“ The earth-closet depends for its working upon 
the deodorizing and absorbing qualities of dry earth. 
The earth absorbs moisture because it is dry ; it 
absorbs odors, both on account of its chemical nat¬ 
ure and the mechanical arrangement of its parti¬ 
cles. Earth is sometimes considered as antiseptic, 
because it so thoroughly destroys some of the prod¬ 
ucts of decay, especially evil odors ; but it really 
promotes decay very energetically. If we lift a 
piece of cloth, a part of which has been buried by 
accident for a few days or weeks, we find the part 
under the earth greatly injured, or entirely rotten, 
from the contact of earth and moisture. Very dry 
earth is somewhat antiseptic on account of its dry¬ 
ness. 

“ The disorganization or decay which earth pro¬ 
motes does not affect living organisms of either 
plants or animals. 1 Hence, seeds, roots, bulbs, in¬ 
sect life, and the eggs of many birds, reptiles, and 
insects, are preserved, if buried in earth of natural 
dryness, so long as life remains. 

“ The purifying and deodorizing properties of the 
soil are familiar to almost every farmer boy in the 

1 This does not apply, either necessarily or very probably, to the liv¬ 
ing germs of infection (if such germs there be), as these seem to multi 
ply only under the influence of putrid decomposition. 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


233 


country. A very slight burying prevents the odor 
of a decaying carcass being noticeable ; a thin cover¬ 
ing of earth suffices to suppress the odors of a fresh 
manure heap ; and the most disgusting of all com¬ 
mon smells, that of the skunk, may be entirely re¬ 
moved from articles of clothing, or other things con¬ 
taminated by it, by burying them in the ground a 
few weeks (of course, absolute contact of the earth 
with the garments should be prevented, or they 
would be rendered useless through decay).” 

There is one consideration connected with this 
branch of the subject which is of even greater im¬ 
portance than the mere money value of the single 
application of the manure. Our present sj^stem is 
one of constant waste. We draw from the soil a 
certain amount of plant-food with every crop that 
we grow. In so far as the crop is consumed by 
man, this plant-food is practically wasted. In the 
next crop that the land produces, fresh elements are 
required, and these, in their turn, are thrown away. 
And so we go on, year after year, always drawing 
out more than we put back, to the extent of almost 
the entire food of our population. Of course much 
of this material finds its way, sooner or later, to the 
soil; for even that which is washed into the sea may 
be reclaimed in sea-weed used as manure, or in fish 
that is used for food. But as a broad proposition, 
*'t may be assumed that practically the food of our 
population returns almost nothing to the soil. 

The relief that the earth-closet offers in an agri¬ 
cultural point of view is not to be measured by the 


234 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

Bimple fact that it furnishes nutriment to the crop 
to which the manure is applied ; for still greater 
importance attaches to the permanent benefit to the 
soil, resulting from any system, by which all that 
has been contributed to plants is surely returned. 
Instead of removing mineral plant-food with every 
crop, and sending it to the four corners of the earth, 
these mineral matters are returned in a form suita¬ 
ble for immediate use. The crop is fed, not by new 
contributions from the soil, but by the very mate¬ 
rial which has fed previous crops. The same ele¬ 
ments may be used over and over again ad infini¬ 
tum. 1 At the same time, the action of the weather 
upon the soil, the . action of the feeding-roots of 
plants on the surfaces of its particles, and the power 
of organic matters (both the added manure and the 
decaying roots of previous crops) to develop latent 
fertilizing elements of the earth, all tend to add, 
year by year, to the active fertility of the land. 

DR. YOELCKER ON THE VALUE OF EARTH-CLOSET 

MANURE. 

In 1872, Dr. Voelcker, chemist to the Royal Ag¬ 
ricultural Society of England, contributed to its 
Journal (2d Series, vol. viii.) a carefully considered 
essay on this subject. The following quotations 
will show the very favorable light in which he re¬ 
gards the system generally, and the small value he 
attaches to its product. 

1 Of course, it may or may not be the identical elements it has pre¬ 
viously yielded which are returned to a given field, and it is not mate- 
rial to the argument whether it be these or their equivalent. 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


285 


“ In the country — in small county towns, and 
in isolated establishments, such as county prisons, 
workhouses, and asylums — the disposal of human 
excretal matters presents no great difficulty ; but 
their removal from towns is generally attended with 
considerable expense, no matter what particular sys¬ 
tem the authorities may adopt. By degrees the 
town authorities are learning the disagreeable les¬ 
son that materials which are excellent fertilizers 
when safely incorporated with the soil are a nui¬ 
sance in a town, and cause expenses that are all the 
greater the more completely the plan of removal ac¬ 
cords with the requirements of civilization. 

Nothing effects so complete and rapid a deodoriza- 
tion and disinfection of putrid animal matter of 
every kind, as a well aerated soil. 

“ Bousingault has shown that there is a larger pro¬ 
portion of oxygen in the air condensed between the 
particles of a porous soil than in the atmosphere 
above the land. In the condensed condition in 
which oxygen exists in a porous soil, it no doubt 
acts much more powerfully in oxidizing organic 
matters than the free oxygen of the air. 

“ There is no oxidizing agent equal to a porous 
soil, which is always at hand in almost unlimited 
quantities, and equally effective in destroying an¬ 
imal effluvia, and the permanently prejudicial prop¬ 
erties of excrementitious matter of every descrip¬ 
tion. Few axioms are so true as that which 
enforces the propriety of returning to the land the 
fertilizing materials which are removed from it in 
the produce. In other words the nuisance of a 


236 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


town population ought to be utilized on the land for 
the production of food. 

• ••••••••* 

“ Mr. Moule has the merit of having given to the 
public a simple and ingeniously contrived apparatus, 
which is capable of doing good service in many 
places ; more especially in sick rooms, public estab¬ 
lishments such as county prisons and unions, and 
country houses, where a good supply of water cannot 
be commanded ; and credit is due to him for having 
pointed out the repeated action, and consequently 
the fitness for repeated use of the same earth. 

• ••••••••• 

“ Where the earth required for absorption can 
be readily procured in a dried and sifted state, and 
the land for the utilization of the compost is in close 
proximity, the earth-closet system recommends it¬ 
self as a thoroughly efficient plan of disposing of 
human excreta and the utilization of their fertilizing 
constituents at the smallest expense and in some 
cases even with economy.” 

Composition of a sample of eartli-closet manure, 
used four times in succession, and dried : — 


Moisture (loss on dning at 212° Fahr.) . . 1.49 

•Organic matter and water of combination . . G.56 

Oxide of iron and alumina.14.57 

Tribasic phosphate of lime (bone-phosphate) . . 1.46 

Carbonate of lime.9.47 

Magnesia.2.20 

Potash.1.31 

Chloride of sodium.82 

Insoluble silicious matter (clay) .... 62.12 


100.00 

•Containing nitrogen.39 

Equal to ammonia..47 





THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 237 

As an illustration of the practical working of the 
system on a large scale, he gives the following ex¬ 
tract of a letter from Captain Armytage, the gov¬ 
ernor of the West Riding Prison, Wakefield, where 
as many as 776 earth-closets were in use, the system 
having been first introduced in the summer of 1866. 

“ We use the ordinary Moule’s closet, or a still 
simpler box, where the earth is applied out of a 
small scoop by hand, instead of the self-acting ma¬ 
chinery of Moule’s closets, which, with ordinary 
care, acts very well. You must be aware what class 
of men and women we have to deal with in working 
out experiments; and I can only say that, after 
more than three years, I am satisfied that the dry- 
earth plan is the only sound system that can be 
worked out, especially among the lower classes and 
in towns, my principle being to keep all sediments 
out of the drains. The urine now is collected into 
tanks, and is sold, or used for manuring the ground, 
or is thrown upon the earth compost. We find an 
absence of all smells, that formerly were quite over¬ 
powering; and even in the manipulating shed no 
smell can be discerned, except at the time of turn¬ 
ing the compost, and then the smell perceptible in 
the shed is more that of a Peruvian guano-shed than 
anything else.” 

It appears that: “In the course of the year from 
fifty to sixty tons of earth-manure are obtained, 
which is chiefly used on the prison grounds. In 
1870, about twelve tons were sold at <£1 per ton, 
when the earth was once used; £2 when twice used, 


238 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


and <£3 thrice used. It has had remarkable success 
in growing onions, and has been used with advan¬ 
tage for potatoes, vegetables, and garden produce in 
general. Half a ton per acre of the earth used once 
in the closets has also been successfully applied to 
grass land, and one ton per acre produced two tons, 
three cwt. of hay. In a second experiment, one ton 
of the earth manure (once used), produced two tons, 
two cwt. of hay.” 

In Voelcker’s further chemical investigation of 
this subject there is given the following analysis 
made by Dr. Gilbert: — 




EARTH. 



Before use. 

Using once. 

Using twice. 

Percentage of moisture in air 
dried and sifted soil (loss at 210° 
Fah.). 

8.440 

9.970 

7.710 

Percentage of nitrogen in air 
dried and sifted soil. 

.007 

.216 

.353 

Percentage of nitrogen in soil 
dried at 212 5 Falir. 

.073 

.240 

.383 


On the strength of which, it is stated that: 
“ earth passed three times through the closet, in a 
perfectly dry state, was worth only 6s. 2 \d. more 
per ton than dry garden mold of the composition 
of the soil employed in the experiments.” 

In support of his opinion that the value of human 
excrements has always been popularly overestimated, 
Dr. Yoelcker adduces the following : — 

“ In 1864, the Prussian government commissioned 
Messrs. C. v. Salviati, O. Roder, and Dr. Eichliorn 

















THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


239 


to investigate the modes of collection, removal, and 
utilization, in various continental towns; and in 
their report, the Prussian commissioners, who visited 
various towns in Belgium, France and Germany, 
showed not only that the householders seldom real¬ 
ized anything like a franc per head per annum for 
their excretal matter, but that, in the majority of 
towns, they had to pay something for the removal. 
It is surprising that'in the face of the reports of in¬ 
dividuals who have investigated the subject on the 
spot, and in spite of reliable official reports, embody¬ 
ing the results of personal observations, and dealing 
with plain matters of fact, many people should still 
give credence to the unwarranted statement that in 
Belgium excretal matters are sold at £1 per head 
per annum, and that most continental towns derive 
a more or less considerable income from the sale and 
utilization of human excreta. In the endeavor to 
correct the erroneous and exaggerated notions which 
not a few persons entertain with regard to the 
money value of human excrements, I have purposely 
confined myself to a statement of facts, which every 
one may verify who will take the trouble to visit 
continental towns and make inquiry into the man¬ 
ner in which human excreta are disposed of, and 
what is realized by the towns by their utilization. 
The practical conclusion to which an unbiassed in¬ 
quirer into this subject will arrive is that, as far as 
the inhabitants of towns are concerned, human ex¬ 
creta are a nuisance, for the removal of which, in 
most towns they have to pay something. 


240 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

“ Speaking generally, solid human excreta, as 
they leave the body, contain one fourth of dry matter 
and three fourths of water. The dry matter con¬ 
tains about l£ per cent, of nitrogen, and 1 per cent, 
of phosphoric acid. 

. ••••••* 

“ If it were possible to dry faeces without loss in 
fertilizing matters, and without the addition of 
bulky material, they would, in a dry state, be a very 
valuable manure, for in that state they would con¬ 
tain : — 


♦Organic matter.88.52 

Insoluble silicious matter.1-48 

Oxide of iron.54 

Lime. 1.72 

Magnesia.1-55 

Phosphoric acid.. • 4.27 

Sulphuric acid.24 

Potash.1-19 

Soda.31 

Chloride of sodium ...... .18 


100.00 

♦Containing nitrogen.6.00 

Equal to ammonia. 7.28 


“ It appears from the preceding figures that, in a 
perfectly dry condition, two tons of solid human ex¬ 
creta are worth almost as much as one ton of Peru¬ 
vian guano; and it seems a great pity that a ma¬ 
nure possessing such a fertilizing value should be 
wasted as at present it is in a great measure. 

“ Still more valuable as a manure is human urine, 
for its principal constituent — urea — contains nearly 
fifty per cent, of nitrogen; and uric acid—an active 









THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


241 


constituent of urine—contains about thirty-three 
per cent, of nitrogen ; and besides these nitrogenous 
organic matters, human urine contains a good deal 

of phosphoric acid. 

“ Fresh urine contains, on an average only three 
per cent, of solid matter, and, according to Professor 
Way’s analysis just quoted, consists of: — 


Water. 97.000 

♦Organic matter . . ... 2.026 

Insoluble silicious matter.003 

Oxide of iron..002 

time.018 

Magnesia. .014 

Phosphoric acid.040 

Sulphuric acid ...014 

Potash.055 

Chloride of potassium..162 

Chloride of sodium.566 


100.000 

♦Containing nitrogen. .58 

Equal to ammonia ..... .71 


“ Notwithstanding this large proportion of water, 
the amount of solid matter in the urine voided in a 
day is just about one third greater than the amount 
of dry matter in the daily solid evacuations. It is 
not easy" to calculate with great precision what is 
the total amount of fasces and urine which is pro¬ 
duced by a mixed population of adults and children k 
of both sexes; but it may be safely stated that the 
amount of dry matter in the solid and liquid excreta 
of a mixed population does not exceed fifty-six 
pounds per head, per annum, and that probably it is 

not more than forty-five or forty-six pounds. 

“ On calculating the amount of ammonia which 










242 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES ANT) 1 OWNS. 


will be produced on the decomposition of the dry 
matter of the solid and liquid excrements of each 
person per annum, we obtain from the 

Ammonia* 

23 lbs. of dry matter contained in the solid excreta . . 1.60 lbs. 

And in 34 lbs. of dry matter contained in the liquid excreta 8 12 lbs. 

Or altogether.9.72 lbs. 

44 In other words, five sixths of the ammonia ca¬ 
pable of being generated on the decomposition of 
human excreta is furnished by the urine. By a 
similar calculation I find that, according to the pre¬ 
ceding data, each individual would furnish about 
£>\ lbs. of phosphates per annum. For simplicity’s 
sake we may assume that each person of a popula¬ 
tion produces in the solid and liquid excreta 56 lbs. 
of dry matter per annum. These 56 lbs. produce 
in round numbers 10 lbs. of ammonia, and 5^ lbs. 
of phosphates. 

44 In order to avoid the appearance of a wish to 
undervalue the intrinsic fertilizing value of human 
excreta, I would allow 9 d. per lb. for ammonia, and 
2 d. per lb. for phosphates, and further 9 d. for the 
money-value of the remaining constituents, which is 
rather more than the latter are really worth. 

44 The excreta of each person of a population ac¬ 
cordingly would be worth per annum 9s. ($2.16 
gold), allowing for — 

10 lbs. ammonia at 9 d. per lb.. Is. Qd. 

5§ lbs. of phosphates at 2 d. per lb. . 0 11 

Other matters.0 7 

Total value of human excreta per head per annum . .90 



THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


243 


“ Bearing in mind that five sixths of the total 
amount of ammonia in the solid and liquid excreta 
of man are furnished by the urine, and only one 
sixth by the faeces, and how small is the proportion 
of the total urine that is passed at the same time, 
and that our domestic habits prevent the collection 
and absorption of the whole of the urine, the intrin¬ 
sic value of the fertilizing matters which can be 
practically recovered in Moule’s earth-closet, is prob¬ 
ably not more than one third of their value,, or 
amounts to only 3s. for each person per annum. In 
order to recover these three shilling’s worth of ma¬ 
nuring matters, a large quantity of earth has to be 
used in Moule’s closet. 

• • • • • ••••• 

u Assuming that the total excreta of a man can 
be absorbed by the earth without loss, and that 
they possess an average value of 9s. per annum, each 
ton of earth used five times in the closet will be 
worth 22s. 6c?.; but as, practically, about two 
thirds of the fertilizing matters will be wasted in 
the urine, which cannot be recovered and absorbed 
by earth, the value of a ton of earth-closet manure 
used five times will only be about 7s. 6c?.” 

This paper has such scientific importance and is 
justly entitled to so much respect on the part of all 
who know Dr. Voelcker’s most efficient services in 
the cause of improved agriculture, that no full state¬ 
ment of the system can be made without full and 
faithful reference to his essay. 

The correctness of his estimate it would be dangei 


244 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

ous to doubt. If accepted as final it simply states, 
more in detail, the general proposition that with the 
earth system, as with all others, the incentive must 
be a sanitary rather than a commercial one, and 
those who still hold to the great agricultural value 
of earth-closet manure, however much discourage¬ 
ment they may receive at the hands of chemists, 
will have to fall back upon the many instances of 
results from its practical use, which seem to be far 
beyond what its theoretical composition would ac¬ 
count for. 

This paper suggests the proposition in agricult¬ 
ural chemistry that, just as the nitrogenous prod¬ 
ucts of organic decay are consumed by the action of 
aerated charcoal, so are they consumed by a similar 
action of aerated earth (or other dry and porous 
material) and that — in this regard — there may be 
a loss of organic elements of fertility in the process 
of “summer fallowing,” — a loss that is compen¬ 
sated for by a certain gain, but a loss nevertheless. 

mottle’s apparatus. 

The original apparatus devised by Mr. Moule is 
manufactured by a successful company in London, 
who have, as experience has suggested modifications, 

added a variety of forms and several improvements, 

$ 

which have greatly extended the scope of the sys¬ 
tem. 

Precisely what the earth-closet and its accesso¬ 
ries, as now contrived, accomplish, is the following: 

A comfortable closet on any floor of the house, 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


245 


supplied with earth, and cleansed of its deposits 
without the intervention or knowledge of any mem¬ 
ber of the household; 



A portable commode in any dressing-room, bed¬ 
room, or closet, the care of which is no more disa¬ 
greeable than is that of an ordinary fireplace; 
Appliances for the use of immovable invalids 




















































































































































































































246 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


which entirely remove the distressing accompani¬ 
ments of their care ; and 

The complete and effectual removal of all the 
liquid wastes of sleeping-rooms and kitchen ; and 



Figure 18. 

The complete suppression of the odors which, 
despite the comfort and elegance of modern living, 
still hang about our cess-pools and privy-vaults, and 
attend the removal of their contents. 
















































































































































THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


247 


The simplest form of Moule’s apparatus is the 
portable commode shown in Figure 17, which is 
adapted for use in any room or closet, and which 
with only ordinary care is as inoffensive in odor 
ind as convenient and little disagreeable in atten¬ 
tion as a common anthracite stove. 

The arrangement of the mechanism of this com¬ 
mode is shown in Figure 18. 

A , is a swinging hopper, capable of holding an 
ordinary coal-hod full of earth ; B is the “ chucker ” 
which on being tilted by lifting the handle H\ 
throws forward the proper quantity of earth into 
the moveable hod standing under the seat. When 
the handle is released the chucker drops back into 
the position shown in the cut, and is filled from the 
hopper which enters its top, its mouth being at the 
same time closed by the shelf /, suspended beneath 
it. The commode should be supplied with two 
hods, the one not in use being exposed to the air 
during the time that it is waiting. When fresh 
earth is needed for the hopper it is carried to it in 
this dry hod, which after being emptied, is substi¬ 
tuted for the filled one under the seat. 

An apparatus for more regular use, — for a fixed 
closet where the circumstances allow of the con¬ 
struction, — is shown in Figure 19. 

There is a considerable reservoir for earth built 
up above the level of the top of the hopper, — my 
own holds from four to six weeks’ supply. In lieu 
of a moveable hod, there is fixed beneath the seat, 
reaching through an opening in the floor, a gal van- 



Figure 19. — Apparatus with valved funnel. 


















































THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 249 

ized iron funnel closed at tlie bottom with a move- 
able valve. This funnel-mouth opens into a twelve 
inch galvanized iron pipe which passes to the recep¬ 
tacle in a cellar or room below. In my own case 
the closet on the main floor of the house delivers 
through a short pipe into the top of a tight brick 
vault three feet square and seven feet high. This 
vault is closed over with brick work at the top, 
being plastered close around the pipe so that there 
shall be no opportunity for an escape of its air into 
the cellar or into the closet above. In a new con¬ 
struction, I should, as a further precaution, provide 
some means for ventilating this vault, but we have 
experienced no inconvenience from it in its present 
condition, and as there is always an abundant sup¬ 
ply of earth within it I can imagine no danger from 
it. 

The closet on the second floor is arranged in pre¬ 
cisely the same manner, save that the connecting 
pipe is long enough to reach through from this floor 
to the top of a vault in the cellar, — about twelve 
feet. Each of these cellar vaults has a small man¬ 
hole in the brick work (with timber header and 
sill), which is loosely bricked up and then well 
coated with mortar on the outside. The vaults have 
to be emptied about three times in the year, when 
these loose bricks are knocked out to give access, — 
the opening being plastered up again as soon as the 
work is done. 

The only objection that has at any time been found 
to this arrangement was due to the fact that owing 


250 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

to its conical form, the funnel, when full, does not 
empty itself without help. This objection is en¬ 
tirely obviated by making it the duty of one of 
the users to pull the dumping handle at least once 
every day, — the smaller accumulation discharging 
itself freely. There is the further advantage in this 
that the deposits are thus always at a depth to be 
most perfectly reached and covered by the falling 
earth. 

In my own case, no earth has been brought to the 
house for three years. During this time we have 
used over and over again the same material, which 
consists almost entirely of anthracite ashes. When 
the vaults are emptied, their contents are simply 
heaped up in the cellar, where they become suf¬ 
ficiently dry, after a month or so, to be used again. 
Much of this accumulation has passed through the 
closet, at least ten or twelve times. Under no cir¬ 
cumstances has there been any indication that it 
is anything but ashes, with a slight admixture of 
garden soil. In my case, the earth-closet system is 
entirety free from any complication. 

A simple form of earth-privy is shown in Figure 

20 . 

Figure 21 shows an arrangement by which closets 
on different floors, against the outer wall of a house, 
may be supplied and emptied from an outside shaft 
and vault. The earth is hoisted and discharged 
into the reservoirs from without. The boxes which 
receive the deposits and their covering of earth are 
tilted outward into the shafts. 



Figure 20. — Section of vaulted privy. To be supplied and emptied 

from the rear. 




































Figure 21. — Plan of closets on two floors, with hoist and dump. 

































































































































































































THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 253 

• 

The earth-closets at Fort Adams (Newport), 
erected for the use of the garrison, are constructed 
as shown in Figure 22. The deposits are received 
on the concreted floor of the casemate in which the 
closets are placed. The same plan— with divisions 
between the seats — is well adapted for the use of 
schools, asylums, etc. 

Mr. Netten Radcliffe, in 1869, made a careful 
investigation of the earth-closet system in practical 
use in various parts of England, in connection with 
Dr. Buchanan. Their comprehensive and satisfac¬ 
tory report was published in connection with the 
Twelfth Report of Mr. John Simon, medical officer 
of the Privy Council. 

In 1874, Mr. Netten Radcliffe alone made an ex¬ 
amination of the privy system generally, and again 
inquired into the condition of the earth-system, — 
communicating the result of his investigations in 
connection with Mr. Simon’s Report of that year. 
After this wide observation, he says, without quali¬ 
fication : “ As a means of abating excrement nui¬ 
sances the dry-earth system is of the utmost value.” 
And again : “Of the value of dry earth as a means 
of abating excrement-nuisance, no question, I pre¬ 
sume, now exists ; and its application in detail to 
this purpose has been facilitated to the utmost by 
the ingenious mechanical arrangements devised and 

O O 

patented by Mr. Moule and Mr. Girdlestone (the 
engineer of‘Moule’s Earth-Closet Company). These 
arrangements, which provide for proper charges of 
dry earth being thrown upon the deposited excre- 



Figure 22 


SECTION ON A* 6 . » SECTION ON C.O 








































































































































































































































THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 255 

ment, admit of ready adoption of the system in 
houses, schools, and other institutions. 

“ Since Dr. Buchanan’s inquiry, the system in its 
integrity has been adopted in many mansions and 
on numerous estates, as well as in not a few public 
and private institutions. The wider experience of 
its use under these circumstances does not differ in 
result from that which has already been recorded 
by Dr. Buchanan, and it would serve no useful pur¬ 
pose to enter into a detailed examination here of 
the different instances which came under observa¬ 
tion during this inquiry. So far as my observation 
went, wherever the system had been diligently ap¬ 
plied and carried out, and due supervision over its 
working had been maintained, there its success in 
the abatement of nuisance from and the disposal 
of excrement had been assured. Where the system 
had been adopted without due regard to the amount 
and kind of labor at disposal and the amount of 
supervision which would be secured, there it had 
failed, under like circumstances. 

“At Sinningrove, a village on the sea-coast, at 
the foot of the Cleveland Hills, and adjoining the 
Lofthouse iron-ore mines, I saw sixty-six earth- 
closets in operation. The mines are the property 
of Messrs. Pease, of Darlington, and the earth- 
closets had been introduced at the suggestion of Mr. 
France the manager. The closets, of which the 
mechanism had been constructed by Moule’s Earth- 
Closet Company, were in excellent order, and the 
earth supplied to them, a clayey soil obtained from 



256 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


the foundation of buildings, had been carefully dried 
in a proper kiln erected for the purpose. A few of 
the closets had lever-seats, in others the earth was 
cast from the hopper upon the excrement by a 
handle acting upon a simply arranged u chucker.” 
A man was detailed to prepare the earth and keep 
the hoppers supplied ; and an arrangement had been 
made with neighboring farmers to remove the con¬ 
tents of the closets once in every three weeks. No 
difficulty had been experienced in making this ar¬ 
rangement ; indeed, the farmers, it was told me, 
very gladly undertook the task for the value of the 
manure, and further, they had agreed to supply 
earth for the use of the closets when that obtained 
from new buildings failed. An inspection of the 
closets showed that the users had not habituated 
themselves to putting the mechanism in action after 
use, and that in consequence in some, although the 
hoppers were full of earth, the excrement was un¬ 
covered. This, however, appeared to have arisen 
rather from an oversight in the management than 
from any indisposition on the part of the cottagers 
to use the closets properly. It bad been too readily 
assumed that the population for whom the closets 
were designed would take to their use without some 
instructional supervision. The advantages of the 
closet, as compared with the old-fashioned midden 
closet were, however, so obvious, even in the state 
that I saw them, that Mr. Frarce was about to in¬ 
troduce two hundred in a new mining village then 
in process of being built on the hills above Sinnin- 
grove.” 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 257 

He also visited some large collieries which had 
been supplied with apparatus by the Moule com¬ 
pany. These are supplied with surface earth which 
is dried only under a shed, where it is occasionally 
turned over. These closets were found to be in a 
satisfactory condition. 

“ The several cottagers to whom I spoke on the 
subject were, with one exception, enthusiastic in 
their preference for the earth-closet as compared 
with the old midden closet, and more than one 
spoke of its greater decency, and of the influence of 
this upon the habits of growing children.” 

At Hereford, as in other cases investigated, it 
seemed sufficient to gather surface soil in dry 
weather, store it in suitable places, and use it with¬ 
out further artificial drying. 

Mr. Radcliffe concludes : — 

“ It must not be too hastily assumed that the 
very fact of no local authority having adopted, of its 
own motion, the dry-earth system during the sev¬ 
eral years it has been before the public, is decisive 
against its adaptability to public requirements as to 
excrement disposal. The truth is, that only now 
does such a local sanitary organization exist as would 
admit of its application in those villages and towns 
where presumably the system is best fitted for opera¬ 
tion. Before the Public Health Act, 1872, the sani¬ 
tary organization of rural districts and of many small 
towns was too incomplete to give any reasonable 
hope of the efficient working of a system, whether 

the dry earth or any other, which required careful 

17 


f 



258 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES *ND TOWNS. 

and systematic supervision and management. Since 
the passing of that act, an organization, fitted to 
these ends, has either been established, or is in prog¬ 
ress of establishment, in every part of the kingdom. 
It is, perhaps, even more necessary now than when 
Dr. Buchanan reported, that sanitary authorities, in 
examining the sanitary requirements of their dis¬ 
tricts, should have under their consideration the 
dry-earth system, among other systems of dealing 
with excrement nuisances. 

“ I have already mentioned the great value as¬ 
signed to the earth-closet manure by certain gentle¬ 
men, who are well acquainted with its practical use. 
This opinion, held also when Dr. Buchanan made 
his inquiry, has undergone no change, but has been 
confirmed by the five years’ additional experience 
since that inquiry took place. On the other hand, 
Drs. Gilbert and Voelcker, studying the question 
chemically, have shown that the earth-closet ma¬ 
nure after it has been charged twice, or even thrice, 
with excrement, is no richer than good garden 
mold. 

“ Mr. Walters, as I have stated, gets 16 a ton for 
the manure retailed in small quantities, and I may 
add, that he believes this sum fairly represents the 
value of the material. Dr. Voelcker estimates the 
value of the compost after it has been charged five 
times with excrement, at 7s. 6d. per ton. I cannot 
pretend to reconcile the differences ; I merely state 
the facts. But it may be observed that the chemi¬ 
cal estimate of the value of earth-closet manure, 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


*259 


does not disprove the sanitary value of the dry-earth 
ftystem, but, so far as it may be the true index of 
value, only tends to show that its economical adap¬ 
tation must be limited to cottages and small towns, 
where the cost of providing and drying the earth, 
and distribution of the manure, will be of the small¬ 
est. 

44 On this question the Committee 1 on the Treat¬ 
ment and Utilization of Sewage, appointed by the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
has said, as to houses and villages (again looking at 
the value as a matter to be estimated b} r chemical 
analysis), that the dry-earth system 44 might be 
even economical where the earth for preparation and 
absorption, and the land for utilization, are in close 
proximity.” 

44 Without desiring to underrate the commercial 
aspects of the question, it appears to me, that it is 
the economical aspect in the sense of obtaining an 
unquestioned good at the least cost, which has place 
here. If the value of a method of excrement dis¬ 
posal is to be estimated by its profitableness as a 
pecuniary investment, rather than by its hygienic 
success, all measures at present in use in this coun¬ 
try would have to be condemned. From the former 
standpoint, the best, perhaps, that can yet be said 
of the completest of these is, that it is the least 
costly. From the sanitary standpoint it is un¬ 
fortunate, although quite explicable, that the pro- 

1 Report of 1872, p. 188. Drs. Gilbert and Voelcker were both mem¬ 
bers of this committee. 


260 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

tnoters of the dry-earth system should have rested 
its advantages so largely upon its presumed results 
for agricultural purposes. Their experience must, 
however, be taken as showing that there are certain 
conditions of use of earth-closet manure which jus¬ 
tify their encomiums of it as a manure ; and there 
is no sufficient reason to believe that a multiplica¬ 
tion of like experience would lead to different results. 
But adopting the chemical estimate of the value of 
earth-closet manure, it still leaves the question in 
this not particularly unfavorable position, namely, 
that the dry-earth system is perhaps the only method 
of excrement-disposal at present practiced in this 
kingdom, which wholly, or almost wholly, would 
probably cover the cost of working, if it were judi¬ 
ciously put in operation within suitable districts.” 

• ••••••••• 

“ I now find myself in a position to state, with 
some approach to accuracy, the way in which the 
earth system may be worked, as well as its approxi¬ 
mate cost and produce. I need not here consider 
the case of public institutions, or very small villages, 
as the instances quoted sufficiently illustrate the 
operation of the system there. But for my present 
purpose I begin with the case of a village popula¬ 
tion of 1,000 persons already provided with the or¬ 
dinary arrangement of outside privies and cess-pools. 
People making use of closets as receptacles for all 
Btools and urine from every inhabitant, may be taken 
to use them on an average three times a day each, and 
to require for each use lbs. of dry earth. This 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 261 

gives 4,500 lbs., or two tons, as the daily quantity of 
earth required for the population. The amount 
that would accumulate in the closet pits, and which 
would need to be removed about four times a year, 
would be larger than this, by the bulk of the stools, 
and of such portion of urine as did not evaporate, 
but without reckoning increase on this score, the 
quantity of manure produced may be reckoned at 
the same quantity of two tons a day. 

“ I assume that, after owners of property have 
paid the original cost of providing eartli-closets ac¬ 
cording to the scheme of the local authority, all sup¬ 
ply and maintenance of them should be the func¬ 
tion of that authority. The cost to owners would 
vary (1) according to the adaptability of the ex¬ 
isting arrangements, and (2) according to the char¬ 
acter of the earth arrangements to be required. 
The latter may either consist, as at Lancaster, in a 
single daily application of earth to the closets, or 
much preferably, as at Halton, in an arrangement 

for the mechanical delivery of earth after each use 

%) 

of the closet. In this latter case, an average out¬ 
lay for structural alterations and machinery of some 
<£3 or <£4 might be required in respect of each 
closet.” 

He estimates the capital needed for the original 
plant, at £250 ; and the weekly outlay for earth and 
labor, at £4 15s. The annual cost, including inter¬ 
est on plant, will be £260. The product will be 
730 tons of manure, costing seven shillings per ton. 

“ The extension of this scheme, beyond the village 


262 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


of 1,000 people, to larger towns, appears to be essen¬ 
tially a question of multiplication, with these dif¬ 
ferences : on the one hand, an organization on a 
large scale can commonly be had more cheaply than 
one on a small scale, and in this way and by its 
compactness the town has the advantage over the 
village ; on the other hand, labor is dearer in towns, 
and towns often have their closets so arranged that it 
is difficult, without much cost, to adapt them to the 
earth system, and thus the village has advantage over 
the town. Further, in towns which must necessarily 
be supplied with sewers for the purpose of drying 
the soil, and for removing rain-fall and house slops, 
the question arises whether it may not be more ad¬ 
vantageous to throw all foul matters together into 
these sewers. I do not propose to discuss the rela¬ 
tive merits of a water-closet system and of an earth- 
closet system ; this must depend upon a variety 
of considerations proper to each particular place. 
In a locality where sewage can be cheaply delivered 
upon suitably situated land, where the amount of 
sewage dilution is such as fits it for the particular 
crops that are marketable, where the irrigable land 
is of such extent and quality as effectually to re¬ 
move the manurial constituents of sewage, and to 
allow of the effluent water passing off in sufficient 
purity, in short where sewage irrigation can be 
effected with profit to the people and safety to the 
health of themselves and their neighbors, I should 
anticipate a preference for a system of water car¬ 
riage for the excrement of the place. But for popu- 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


263 


lations where these conditions may not be attainable, 
or where experience may show greater profit realiz¬ 
able from solid manure, I should suppose that the 
earth system would find advocates in preference to 
the water system ; and it is impossible to ignore the 
fact that many large English towns do not regard 
the water-closet system as suited to all their particu¬ 
lar wants, nor irrigation as being a remedy certainly 
suitable to their particular sewerage difficulties. I 
refer, of course, to towns which, although possessed 
of a system of sewers, nevertheless retain their ex¬ 
crement in middens or cess-pools, deliberately avoid¬ 
ing water-closets as not affording them the certainty 
of advantage which they need to have before they 
enter upon expensive new constructions. Bv the 
authorities of such towns the earth-system will espe¬ 
cially deserve consideration as promising them the 
means of making harmless their retained excrement 
by a system readily, perhaps, adaptable to their 
present privy construction, and not involving in its 
introduction a new kind of difficulty. 

“ The present inquiry has led me to conclusions 
as to the hygienic advantages of the dry-earth sys¬ 
tem similar to those arrived at by Dr. Buchanan 
in 1869, and I adopt mainly his words in stating 
them. 

“ 1. The eartli-closet intelligently managed, fur¬ 
nishes a means of disposing of excrement without 
nuisance, and apparently without detriment to 
health. 

“ 2. In communities, the earth-closet system re- 


264 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


quires to be managed by tlie authority of the place, 
and in limited communities it will probably pay at 
least tlie expenses of its management. 

“ 3. In the poorer class of houses, where super¬ 
vision of any closet arrangements is indispensable, 
the adoption of the earth system offers especial ad¬ 
vantages. 

“4. The earth system of excrement removal does 
not supersede the necessity for an independent 
means of removing slops, rain water, and soil water. 

“ 6. As compared with the water-closet, the earth- 
closet has these advantages: 4 It is cheaper in 

original cost; it requires less repair; it is not in¬ 
jured by frost; it is not damaged by improper sub¬ 
stances being thrown down it; and it very greatly 
reduces the quantity of water required by each 
household.’ ” 

A large manufacturer in Lancashire thus states 
his experiences : — 

“ Having for some years previously felt much in¬ 
terest in sanitary affairs, I decided, in 1870 (in no 
small degree, by reason of the very favorable notice 
of it by Dr. Buchanan, in the twelfth report of the 
medical officer of the Privy Council), to try Moule’s 
earth-closet. I pulled out a good water-closet and 
substituted an earth-closet. A very short experience 
caused me to do away with every other form of 
closet I had, and adopt Moule’s throughout. This 
was all completed some time ago, and there are now 
twenty-six at work ; nine at a cotton factory, three 
at my own house, and the rest connected with cot- 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


265 


fcages. It has been objected by some to Moule’s 
closet that mechanical contrivances are apt to get 
out of order. That is true, but from the first up to 
this time, I have had nothing whatever that has 
gone wrong. The closets at the factory and one 
closet at my house (inside and up-stairs), are fed 
with clay, the others with sifted coal ashes, so that 
ten out of the twenty-six are fed with clay, and the 
produce of these we sell ; the ash manure I use my¬ 
self.” 

THE GOUX EARTH-TUB SYSTEM. 

I have had no personal knowledge of this system, 
and take the following from English sources. 

The largest trial that has been made with the 
Goux system is in the town of Halifax, in England, 
where in May, 1874, Netten Radcliffe found 2,573 
closets so arranged. In his report he describes the 
system as follows : — 

“ A detailed examination of the working of the 
system in Halifax showed, as a rule, a less degree of 
offensiveness to the eye than is commonly observed 
in the simple pail system. 

“ The Goux system is a pail system of which the 
peculiarity consists in a certain preparation of the 
pails, and in a particular mode of manufacture of 
the excrement into manure, and utilization of the 
dry house refuse generally. I am here concerned 
with so much of the system only as relates to the 
abatement of excrement nuisance in the vicinity of 
dwellings. The pail used in the Goux system is 


266 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

preferably of wood, of oval form, and measures 24 
by 19 inches, and 16 inches deep. It is prepared 
for use by being lined at the sides and bottom three 
or four inches thick, with various refuse matters, 
used as absorbents. These matters may be (to 
quote from a trade circular), ‘ chaff, chopped or 
broken straw, damaged or refuse hay, coarse grasses, 
moor grass, dry street sweepings, dry horse-dung, 
and litter, sweepings of markets, hay and straw 
lofts, refuse wool and hair, wool, shoddy, vraic or 
seaweed, charcoal dust, dry peat, dry ferns, spent 
dye woods, coal ashes, etc., any, or all of these, or 
their equivalents, to be mixed in such proportions as 
may be most convenient, together with a small per¬ 
centage of sulphate of iron, or sulphate of lime. At 
Halifax, the materials used for lining the tubs are 
the waste arising from the manufacture of worsted, 
cotton and flax, and old manure which has become 
dry and fallen to powder. To these materials a 
little sulphate of lime is added. The pails are lined 
with the assistance of a mold. 

“ The lining of the pail is designed to absorb the 
urine and other liquid which may pass into the pail, 
and so tend to keep the excrement drier and delay its 
decomposition; but the absorption appeared to me 
to be trivial in pails used by women and children. 
Widely different degrees of sloppiness existed, obvi¬ 
ously dependent upon differences in the families 
using the pails ; but the extent of sloppiness noticed 
in Salford, in 1869, was rarely observed in Halifax, 
greater care being apparently taken in the latter 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


267 


town to avoid the emptying of chamber utensils 
into the pails. Probably the more regular locking 
of the doors of the closets, which is practiced in 
Halifax, contributes not a little to the exclusion of 
the contents of chamber utensils from the pails, less 
trouble being experienced in casting them into the 
yard drain. At any rate the aspect of the lined 
pails in use in Halifax generally, was less offensive 
to the eye than that of the simple pail, and the cast¬ 
ing down of a portion of the lining, as I noticed in 
several instances, sufficed effectually to hide the 
offense and diminish the odor from the pail. 

u The sanitary advantages gained from the intro¬ 
duction of a pail system, such as Goux’s, as com¬ 
pared with the midden system, in Halifax, cannot 
well be overrated. The specification for the recon¬ 
struction of privies on the Goux system, necessarily 
provides for the filling up of middensteads; and 
the suppression of those receptacles is an initial 

requisite of sound privy administration. 

44 Some needless carelessness occurs in lining the 
pails, in their removal and cleansing, as well as in 
the cleansing of the night-soil vans, from want of 
special supervision of the working of the system by 
officers of the corporation. I noticed in the course of 
my inspection, pails imperfectly lined, and some not 
lined at all; pails which had overflowed from neg¬ 
lect to remove them at the proper time ; littering 
of ash-place in the removal of the ashes; some 
splashing in van and leakage from van into street; 
and unsatisfactory arrangements for cleansing the 



i 


268 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

vans at the wharf whence the pails are dispatched 
to the manure works. These defects, insignificant 
as compared with the advantages which those parts 
of the town derive from the system where it has 
been introduced, but exciting prejudice against it, 
entirely arise from the want of such special super¬ 
vision as the corporation should exercise over it.’’ 

The Rochdale Corporation made an experiment 
of several months with the Goux system, and set it 
aside as being less simple than the small pail sys¬ 
tem, which they found satisfactory. 

Dr. Alfred Haviland, Medical Officer of Health 
to the Rural Sanitary Authorities in the counties of 
Northampton, Leicester, and Bucks, publishes in the 
“Sanitary Record” of September 25, 1875, a very 
strong indorsement of the Goux system, from which 
the following is quoted : — 

“ Having been favorably impressed with the prin¬ 
ciple of the Goux system, which I saw in operation 
at Aldershot in October last, I was anxious to in¬ 
vestigate it further, and for this purpose visited 
Halifax in March last, in company with Dr. Gol¬ 
die, the medical officer of health for Leeds. Hali¬ 
fax, at the census 1871, contained 18,970 houses and 
65,510 persons. It is situated between high hills, 
and its site is so irregular, that many of its main 
streets and roads are particularly ill-adapted for the 
draught of heavily laden vehicles, so that scaveng¬ 
ing on a large scale is performed under greater dif¬ 
ficulties than perhaps in any other town in Eng¬ 
land. 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


269 


“ We were first taken to the manure shed, where 
the sewage is taken direct from the houses : a 
building 145 feet long and 74 feet wide, roofed with 
wood and felt, with open rafters, it contained 1,500 
cart loads of manure, from the fresh contents of the 
tubs to the ripe manure fit for the field. There was 
no real sewage smell, although ammonia was per¬ 
ceptible, not upleasantly, however ; the odor of the 
atmosphere resembled that of a well-kept cow-shed. 

“ In Halifax, the lining of the tubs is shoddy, at 
Aldershot, stable litter. A lad lined six tubs and 
prepared them for use in two minutes. 

“ The company supply in the borough 3,020 clos¬ 
ets with tubs — a fifth more is kept in reserve. 
About 550 tubs are emptied daily into the shed, 
twenty-one being a load. Scavenging begins at 7 
A. M. and ends at 5.30 P. M. Occasional complaints 
have been made of the smell of the tubs, but these 
have only occurred when the emptying has been 
neglected, and the tubs allowed to get too full, as 
was the case during the severe parts of this year, 
when the horses could hardly stand on the slippery 
hills of Halifax, and the scavenging could not pro¬ 
ceed at the usual rate. The tubs are emptied once 
a week. 

“ The sewage is emptied directly into the shed ; 
it heats like stable dung. At the depot the ma¬ 
nure sells at eleven shillings per ton, and two shill¬ 
ings extra for carting to the station, which is about 
a mile off. It is then conveyed in open trucks by 
railway to its destination. 


270 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

“ Only one complaint has been made as to the 
smell arising from these trucks, which are loaded at 
the ordinary goods station. 

“ In the work twenty-one men are employed and 
eighteen horses, ten belonging to the company and 
eight hired. As to the health of the men employed, 
not one had lost a day’s work from sickness for the 
last two years. The Goux system was established 
in Halifax in January, 1870.” 

Net ten Radcliffe says in his report of inspection 
of the system at Salford, — 

“ We inspected many pail-closets used by single 
families, and others used by several families, or by 
the inmates of a common lodging-house. In every 
instance where a pail had been in use over two or 
three days, the capacity' of absorption of the liquid 
dejections, claimed by the patentee for the absorb¬ 
ent material, had been exceeded ; and whenever a 
pail had been four or five days or a week in use, it 
was filled to the extent of two thirds or more of its 
cavity, with liquid dejections, in which the solid 
excrement was floating. The contents, in fact, dif¬ 
fered nowise in aspect, except in the cases where a 
portion of the d 3 ^ewood lining had broken down and 
fallen into the liquid, from what we should have ex¬ 
pected if a simple unprepared pail had been used. 
It was suggested that a part of the sloppiness of the 
pails probably depended upon the fact of chamber 
pots having been emptied into them ; but although 
the regulations for their use permits this to be done, 
we did not always find on inquiry that even this 
Bource of wetness had been in operation.” 


THE DRY CONSERVANCY SYSTEM. 


271 


THE DRY ASH-CLOSET. 

Although this system is properly a branch of Dry 
Conservancy, it may (as being usually applied to 
some form of vault closet) be more appropriately 
described in the next chapter. 

Note, 2d edition. — Experience and careful analysis have recently 
shown that in properly prepared earth the entire organic matter of both 
urine and faeces is completely destroyed by the oxidation which is al¬ 
ways active in aerated porous material. The same earth may be used 
over and over again, for an indefinite tirpe, if it is allowed to lie under 
cover for a month or six weeks after each use. This vastly simplifies 
the question of earth-suppl}’. 

This matter is fully discussed in my Sanitary Condition oj City and 
Country Dwelling-Houses. New York: D. Van Nostrand. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


VAULTS AND PRIVIES. 

Any perfect sanitary system would probably re¬ 
quire the entire abolition of all cess-pools and vaults 
deep in the ground, and of all receptacles of every 
sort where the matters to be treated are allowed 
to accumulate in considerable quantities. There is 
no doubt that could we have our wish, it would be 
best in every case to make an advantageous applica¬ 
tion of the water, the pneumatic, or the dry con¬ 
servancy system. 

But the cases are very numerous where public 
opinion is far from being sufficiently educated in 
sanitary matters, where the powers of the sanitary 
authorities of the town, or village, are far too lim¬ 
ited and where too much general indifference ex¬ 
ists, for anything like a radical reform to be under¬ 
taken with the hope of success. In such cases all 
that can be attempted is to reach such a modifica¬ 
tion of the methods now in use as shall render them 
at least much less offensive and dangerous than 
they now are. 

This subject has had great attention from local 
sanitary authorities in many towns and districts of 


VAULTS AND PRIVIES. 273 

England, and the investigations concerning it have 
been most painstaking and valuable. 

It seems evident that there are but three roads 
of escape from the annoyances now existing, short of 
a more thorough system, whose adoption is, in so 
many cases impracticable. These are : The pail 
system, with frequent removal; the tight vault, to 
be emptied as occasion requires, with movable pneu¬ 
matic apparatus ; and the ash-pit system, with fre¬ 
quent removal. 

If the Goux system is to be considered worthy of 
public confidence and general adoption in any town 
(which seems doubtful), its management should be 
subject to the directions and restrictions given be¬ 
low with reference to the pail system. 

THE PAIL SYSTEM. 

This, which is also called the Rochdale system, 
consists in the use, beneath the seat, of a tub (usually 
the half of a petroleum barrel) to receive dejecta 
unmixed with any absorbent, — the tub or pail to 
be removed at frequent intervals. During the re¬ 
moval a tight cover is used, and the pails are carried 
in a covered wagon to a depot where the excrement 
is mixed with ashes and sold as manure. In all- 
Bystems where a removable receptacle is used in 
town closets the round form is better than the 
square, as being more easily kept clean, and the 
size should be not only such as to be easily handled 
by one man, but such as not to admit of remaining 

18 


274 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

too long without cleansing. These receptacles should 
not simply be emptied into a scavenger’s cart, but 
should be taken to the depot to be cleansed and well 
aired, their places in the closet being supplied with 
fresh vessels. 

The Sanitary Committee of the Rochdale Corpo¬ 
ration say, with reference to the small pail system, 
that “ the essential condition of the trial, fre¬ 
quency of removal , had been secured ; that the sys¬ 
tem of removal had been thoroughly approved by all 
who had bad experience of it; and that it had not 
failed under most varied conditions, having proved 
equally efficacious in the highly-rented house with 
its own closet, in the lodging-house where great 
numbers were accommodated, and in the factory and 
workshop. In the subsequent manufacture of the 
dejections and ashes into a salable manure, the 
committee concluded that the Goux system was less 
advantageous than the use of tubs without absorb¬ 
ent linings.” 

The pail system has been less successful in Leeds 
than in Rochdale, but evidently only for want of 
proper attention and sufficiently frequent removal, 
which indicates the leading objection to any such 
system as this under any but the most careful man¬ 
agement. Well managed, any of the removal sys¬ 
tems will be satisfactory, while none will bear neg¬ 
lect among the poor class of a population much 
better than will the ordinary water-closet system. 
The pail closet is gaining favor so rapidly in Bir- 
ingham, in the estimation of property holders, that 


VAULTS AND PRIVIES. 275 

the means thus far provided for its extension are 
taxed to the utmost. 

PNEUMATIC EMPTYING. 

There is much to be said in favor of tightly ce¬ 
mented vaults to be emptied by portable pneumatic 
apparatus ; and this emptying process, as applied to 
common vaults, is achieving a success which — when 
we consider the still-prevailing horrors of hand¬ 
emptying — is well deserved. 

But this system is open to the grave objections, 
that in practice the vault would often be anything 
but tight, and would in such cases have all the de¬ 
fects of the common priv} r ; and that even when tight, 
its purpose would be to retain in the vicinity of the 
dwellings, and in a state of putrefaction which must 
always endanger health, matters which it should be 
our greatest aim to remove at once or to retain (aa 
with the earth system) in an innoxious condition. 
These objections are so grave that they should suffice 
to condemn the whole process, save as a make-shift 
for use so long as common privy vaults are tolerated 
at all. 

THE ASH-CLOSET. 

The ash-closet which has come into use (and into 
great favor) in several large towns in England, is 
usually intended to be emptied at frequent intervals. 
Its best development seems to be in the town of 

Hull. 

The dailv removal recommended by Doctors Rad- 
cliffe and Buchanan in 1869 has, however, not been 


276 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

carried out, weekly removal being thought to be 
all that was practicable. These gentlemen say : — 

“ In the present imperfect state of our knowledge 
of the conditions under which faecal diseases spread, 
we do not feel ourselves entitled to say at what 
time, after being passed, dejections are or may 
(under various external circumstances) become dan¬ 
gerous to health. We cannot say this either in re¬ 
gard of healthy excrement, or of that passed from 
persons affected with disease, specific or other, but 
we think it may probably be taken as sufficiently 
true for practical purposes that there is little chance 
of mischief from the storage of excrement for a day , 
even though along with healthy excrement that of 
persons affected, for example, by enteric fever 
should, without proper disinfection, chance occasion¬ 
ally to be included. We propose, then, to regard 
complete removal of all excrement within a day as 
practically constituting safety in the case where ex¬ 
crement is unmixed, or is only mixed with ashes.” 1 

Dr. Radcliffe advises in his later report: “ In 

all forms of fixed closets the foremost condition, — 
the one to which all other considerations should 
yield, is tli q f requency of removal of deposited excre¬ 
ments .” 

For the information of town authorities who may 
contemplate adopting a system of frequent removal, 
it may be interesting to repeat the following from 
Mr. Radcliffe’s report of the regulations in force in 
the town of Hull, England. 


1 Meaning, doubtless, ash-bin refuse. 


VAULTS AND PRIVIES. 


277 


“ For tlie purposes of 4 night soil collection ’ the 
borough is divided into forty-eight districts, each 
containing from three hundred to seven hundred 
houses, the total number of houses enumerated for 
the purposes of this collection in 1873 being 30,977. 
The collection is carried out by the sanitary author¬ 
ity through the agency of contractors. As a rule, 
each district is let out to a separate contractor, and 
no contractor is allowed to undertake more than 
two districts. The smaller districts are so arranged 
that the collection may be carried out by any one 
who has the command of a horse and cart, and who 
can have the assistance of a boy or two. With a 
view of obviating undue combination among the 
contractors, and diminishing the evil effect of strikes 
among the men, the contracts are so timed in the 
letting that only eight or nine can fall vacant to¬ 
gether. The contractor, in addition to receiving 
the material he collects, and which he sells for such 
profit as he can obtain, is paid by the sanitary au¬ 
thority from 2s. to 3s. yearly for each house in his 
district. The sanitary authority provides places of 
deposit (four in number) where the contractor can 
store the collected material until disposed of; and 
he is subject to penalty if he should deposit such ma¬ 
terial elsewhere without permission of the inspector 
of nuisances, in writing. The contractor is required 
by the terms of his contract to collect and remove 
at least once a week, all night soil, offal, dry and 
liquid filth, dust, paper, and other refuse of every 
description, from all premises, middensteads, ash-pits, 


278 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

dust boxes, cellars, or other places used for such 
refuse, attached to all houses, shops, warehouses, 
yards, and other premises within his district, with 
the exception of trade refuse exceeding in quantity 
three cubic feet in any one week, and all contents 
of cess-pools, blood, manure, and filth from slaugh¬ 
ter houses, ashes from furnaces, and refuse from 
manufacturing processes. The work of collection 
and removal is to be executed on week days, from 
the beginning of March to the end of October, be¬ 
tween the hours of 5 and 8.30 A. M. and from the 
beginning of November to the end of February, be¬ 
tween the hours of 6 and 9.30 A. M., and all carts 
employed in the work are to be clear of the streets 
and public thoroughfares, on their way to the de¬ 
pots, before 9 A. M., within the former period, and 
before 10 A. M., within the latter period. Further, 
the contractor is required to use water-tight and 
properly covered carts.” 

The arrangement of the Hull privy is extremely 
simple as indicated in the accompanying illustration. 

“ The space under the seat forms the entire re¬ 
ceptacle for all the ashes, refuse, and excrement of 
the house, and is built of bricks in cement, with 
a bottom of brick or flag, sloping from the level of 
the paved floor in front to a little below the ground 
level at the back, and forming only a very shallow 
pit. Into this space, through the hole in the privy 
seat, all dry refuse is thrown. The front of the 
midden space is formed by the front board of the 
closet, which is made moveable, to give the scav* 


VAULTS AND PRIVIES. 


279 


enger access to the pit. There is no drain to it, as 
rain is excluded and 
slops are in practice 
thrown down the drains. 

The ashes are usually 
sufficient in quantity to 
soak up all moisture 
passing into the pit, and 
the contents are almost 
invariably dry, and are 
removed by a spade 
without difficulty.” 

Simple as this con¬ 
struction is, its adoption 
in our northern towns 
would require some pro¬ 
vision should be made 
which should prevent its 
receptacle being cracked 
by heaving from frost, but if properly constructed, 
and if frequently cleansed under efficient supervis¬ 
ion, it would certainly be a very great improvement 
on the system at present in general use. 

The instances in Hull, in which the arrangement 
was found to be unsatisfactory, seem to have been 
due to one or other of the following conditions: — 

“ 1. Deteriorated, or original imperfect construc¬ 
tion of the walls of the privy pit, leading to retention 
of portions, and perhaps to some soakage of decom¬ 
posing filth. 

“ 2. Careless casting of slops into the privy pit, 



Figure 23. — Section of privy. 














280 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


facilitating decomposition of tlie contents, and soak- 
age of the wood-work. 

“ 3. Want of adaptation of the scavenging to the 
needs of particular localities and their inhabitants. 
In the localities occupied by the most impoverished 
and degraded of the population the privies were 
overflowing with filth, and most offensive. This 

O 7 

arose mainly from the insufficiency of the scaveng¬ 
ing. Designed to meet the requirements of a sin¬ 
gle family only, the Hull privy cannot be used by 
several families without being productive of nui¬ 
sance, except on condition of a more frequent re¬ 
moval of its contents than once a week. A daily 
removal is necessary under these-circumstances ; and 
as to orderliness of the privy, in those cases where 
a single family cannot be made responsible for it, 
this will not as a rule be secured unless the sanitary 
authority itself undertakes the duty of maintaining 
it.” 

Netten Radcliffe made a careful examination of 
the Dry-Ash system in Manchester, where 6,000 such 
privies were already in use, and thus reports : — 

“ In the series of inspections I made with refer¬ 
ence to the working of this new system, I had occa¬ 
sion first to observe the contrast as to nuisance be¬ 
tween the dry-ash closet and the old midden closet. 
I n several streets where the process of reconstruction 
had been only partially completed, it was possible to 
compare the old and new privy arrangements in 
contiguous premises. It was the contrast between 
open, big, uncleanable cavities, containing a greater 


VAULTS AND PRIVIES. 


281 


or less amount of decomposing faecal matter, and 
emitting a horrible, penetrating odor, and small 
receptacles emitting hardly any appreciable smell, 
even with the nose above the privy seat, and 
admitting of thorough cleansing. Most significant 
testimony was given to the benefit of the change by 
some householders. Many houses in Manchester 
are built in parallel rows, a back passage run¬ 
ning between the rows, and each house having a 
small yard in the rear in which the privy is placed. 
Since the reconstruction of the privies, 4 it has been 
possible to open the back windows of the houses .’ 
The change, moreover, has affected beneficially the 
value of cottage property, and tenants are quite 
willing to give 3 d. more rent weekly since the re¬ 
construction of the privies, for the gain in decency 
and comfort. Soakage of excremental matter into 
the soil, and its passage into and accumulation in 
drains is, of course, obviated by the reconstruction, 
and the smaller space occupied by the new closet is 
not an unimportant matter. The removal of the 
excrement pail is, with the most ordinary care, free 
from offensiveness, and if commonly conducted as I 
saw the operation, it may well be executed during 
the day-time, and the abomination of night scaveng¬ 
ing done away with. The use of the cinder sifters 
has been adopted by householders with a readiness 
which proves how accurate the corporation was in 
depending upon their cooperation in the working 
of the scheme. The high price of coal during the 
lust two years has contributed to this good result, 


282 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

from the value of the cinders in economizing its use. 
It is found, also, that a class of the population, com¬ 
monly believed to be unmanageable in regard to any 
niceties of arrangement for excrement disposal, have 
rapidly appreciated the advantages of the new 
closet, and taken to the use of the cinder-sifter. In 
other words, it has been found that habits of de¬ 
cency and order in the particular matters referred 
to have been largely developed with the opportuni¬ 
ties for such decency and order. Among the lowest 
class, occupying sub-let houses, and having privies 
used by families in common, it will, however, proba¬ 
bly be found necessary to adopt some special super¬ 
vision, and to remove the excrement and dry house 
refuse daily.” 

Where these closets are in use the instructions of 
the sanitary authorities require the inspector of nui¬ 
sances to report as nuisances all closets in which the 
due covering witli ashes or earth is neglected. 

TUMBLER AND TROUGH CLOSETS. 

These are closets for the use of large numbers of 
persons (as in factories), where there is no other 
objection to the water-system than the liability of 
the usual apparatus to get out of repair. 

They each have a trough under the seat, through 
which water is either kept running, or in which it 
stands to a certain depth, to be let off from time 
to time. The “ tumbler ” is similar to that de¬ 
scribed (page 167, Figure 7) under the head of 

Flushing Sewers.” 


VAULTS AND PRIVIES. 283 

The measurements of the tumbler for a closet 
may be: — 

Length of tumbler, at top . . .3 feet. 

Length of tumbler at bottom . . 1 foot 10 inches. 

Width of tumbler at bottom . . .1 foot 7f inches. 

Depth of tumbler at back ... 1 foot \ inch. 

Trunnions are 6i inches from top, and 1 foot 1| inches from back. 

In Leeds, the use of the tumbler-closet has not 
been extended during the past three years, it being 
considered wasteful of water, and difficult to keep 
in order. 


TROUGH CLOSET. 

In Liverpool, where the trough-closet, flushed with 
water, is in quite extended use, Dr. Trench stated 
that, in 1868, when an epidemic of enteric fever was 
prevailing, “ The only localities which seemed ex¬ 
empt from it were the places occupied by the poor, 
in which we had removed all the privies and made 
trough closets.” 


CHAPTER IX. 


liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 

The important problem of town sewerage seems 
to be seeking its solution by the aid of all the nat¬ 
ural elements. Water and earth have had their 
trials and have been more or less successful, and 
now an ingenious Dutch engineer has called air into 
requisition, and promises to solve all the difficulties 
which have been but partially overcome by previous 
systems. 

Captain Charles T. Liernur, of Holland, a mili¬ 
tary and civil engineer of much experience (long a 
railroad engineer in America), has devised a system 
for which he claims great results, and which, theo¬ 
retically at least, seems to possess advantages far be¬ 
yond those of any other that has been applied to 
densely populated town areas. This system has, as 
yet, been too incompletely tested, and some of its 
important supplementary details have been too little 
experimented with, for one to say definitely that it 
is an assured success which is entirely to drive from 
the field the water sewerage now in such general 
use ; but its claims are set forth with such positive 
assurances of merit, and its various parts seem to 
have been so well considered, that it is worthy of 



liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 285 

more than passing notice as merely a curious me¬ 
chanical contrivance. 

As every important invention in connection with 
the removal of the faecal matter of towns should be 
approached in a hopeful spirit, and encouraged by 
the fullest opportunity for its development, it will 
be best first to state what are, and what are to be, 
the mechanical details of Liernur’s process, and 
what its adherents believe that it will accomplish. 

The initial principle of the system lies in the suc¬ 
tion to a central public reservoir of the accumulation 
of faecal material deposited in receptacles at sepa¬ 
rate houses, these being connected with this reservoir 
by air-tight pipes. The reservoir being exhausted 
of its air, the accumulations are drawn toward it by 
pneumatic pressure. No matter how large may be 
the area occupied by the sewered houses, each dis¬ 
trict has its central reservoir, and these reservoirs 
are in turn and in like manner themselves dis¬ 
charged into a main vacuum chamber at convenient 
point, being connected with this by a similar sys¬ 
tem of pneumatic pipes. The deposits at each house 
are first removed to central receptacles in their 
districts, and the whole mass is by a second or even 
by a third operation drawn to the main depot, 
where it is to be disposed of according to the re¬ 
quirements of the conditions of health, and most 
conveniently for agricultural use. 

The invention has grown gradually from small 
beginnings, and it has been in one or two instances 
applied over large areas with very satisfactory re- 


286 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

suits. As the system in a town of even the largest 
size is merely an aggregation of smaller systems, to 
describe one of these latter will suffice for an under¬ 
standing of its principles. 

We will assume, then, a level town area of from 
one hundred to one hundred and fifty houses of 
medium size. In the centre of this area, in the 
middle of a street, and far enough below the surface 
to be secured against frost, there is sunk an air-tight 
iron reservoir having two openings at its surface, to 
either of which an air-pump connection, or the con¬ 
necting pipe of an exhausted receiver may be at¬ 
tached. The air-pump attachment, used to create 
a vacuum, opens into the top of the reservoir, while 
the attachment of the exhausted receiver, being in¬ 
tended to suck out the liquid contents, is connected 
with a pipe reaching nearly to the bottom. 

When the air-pump is applied for the exhaustion 
of the air of the reservoir, it creates a partial vacuum, 
which extends through the whole series of pneu¬ 
matic pipes connected with it, and the pressure of 
the air entering at the remote open ends of the 
pipes drives forward toward the vacuum-centre all of 
their liquid accumulations. 

After the reservoir has become filled, the pipe 
reaching to its bottom is attached to the previously 
exhausted receiver, into which the liquid is drawn. 
Main pipes, under ground, running through the 
streets, or through the spaces between the backs of 
houses, and with branches to or under the houses 
themselves, allow the accumulations of the house 


liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 287 

closets to flow to the reservoir whenever a vacuum is 
established and is, by the opening of stop-cocks, 
brought to bear upon them. The closets of each 
house, which may be placed one over the other on 
the different stories, are connected with the branch 
pipe described, having a vertical or nearly vertical 
fall to the point of junction. When the cocks are 
opened, so that these branch pipes are brought into 
direct communication with the vacuum, every house 
pipe, being open at its upper end, becomes a source 
of pressure, and the air in seeking to fill the vacuum 
carries before it whatever matters may be accumu¬ 
lated within it. In the earliest introduction of the 
system, each house branch was supplied with a cock, 
so that after the reservoir had been exhausted of air, 
the opening of each of these, for a moment, caused 
the contents of its pipe to be thrown rapidly forward 
toward the street reservoir; but as there was no 
means of knowing the exact time needed for the 
emptying of the contents of each pipe, either there 
was necessarily incomplete work, or more air might 
be admitted than the work required. Later, there 
was substituted for these stop-cocks an arrangement 
of self-acting air-traps which entirely overcame the 
difficulty. These traps give equal barometric resist¬ 
ances, and by their aid the accumulations of each 
house, be they great or small, far or near, are dis¬ 
charged with absolute uniformity and regularity by 
the opening of a single cock in the main pipe w ith 
which the house branches are connected. These 
automatic traps, depending for their action on this 


288 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

equal barometric resistance, are not merely effective 
for the purpose for which they were intended: they 
are also interesting as a most ingenious and curious 
invention. Their action may be easily explained. 

The accompanying diagram (Figure 24) shows two 

tumblers containing wa¬ 
ter. One is nearly tilled 
and the other has but 
an inch of water at its 
bottom ; the difference 
in height between the 
two levels of the water 
we will assume to be two 
inches. The baromet¬ 
ric resistance (against 
suction) is greater, by 
the pressure due to a 
column of two inches of 
water, in the one than 
it is in the other. Into 
each of these two tum¬ 
blers a glass tube is in¬ 
serted, and the ends of 
both tubes are taken 
into the mouth at the 
same time. We will 
assume that the vertical height between the sur¬ 
face of the water in one of the tumblers and the 
mouth is four inches, and between the surface of 
the water in the other tumbler and the mouth is 
six inches; consequently in one case there is a col- 


































liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 289 

umn of four inches of water to be lifted, and in the 
other a column of six inches. Now if one sucks 
very gently on both tubes, that is, if both are sloivly 
exhausted by the same mouth, water will flow only 
from the tumbler which is the fuller, or from which 
the shorter column is to be lifted, until the level 
of its water is reduced to the level of that in the 
other tumbler ; then, the height to be overcome be¬ 
ing equal, there will be an equal flow from each 
tumbler until both are exhausted. No matter how 
much water there may be in one vessel nor how 
little in the other ; if the same slow draft is made 
on both at the same time, the flow will always be 
entirely from the one standing at the higher level, 
and after the equilibrium is established there must 
be an absolute equality of level preserved until both 
are exhausted. The same effect will be observed if 
we experiment with a dozen tumblers, all having 
their contents at different elevations ; that one in 
which the liquid stands at the highest level will be 
discharged first ; when this reaches the level of the 
second, these two will be discharged together; 
when these descend to the level of the third, the 
three will deliver equally; and so on until the whole 
series, offering an equal resistance to an equal force, 
deliver their contents at the same rate. 1 

1 The flow through the tubes must be so slow that the element of 
friction shall not interfere with its success. Practically, it is difficult 
to make the draught by the mouth sufficiently slow and steady for suc¬ 
cess with the small tubes required. With an air pump or compressed 
rubber ball it is easier to regulate the force, and the tubes may be 
larger. 


19 


290 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


Captain Liernur has applied this principle of bar¬ 
ometric resistances to his pneumatic tubes by giving 
to each (for convenience, before it leaves the prem¬ 
ises by which it is supplied) a break, or abrupt- 
change in elevation, of say exactly one foot. It is 
necessary that there should be always a distinct fall, 
or inclination toward the direction of the flow of the 
pipe, so that its liquid contents may move forward 
without halting at any point to deposit silt, which 
might in time obstruct them. Practically, it is 
said to be best to give an inclination of one foot 
in a length of fifty feet. This for a minimum ; the 
maximum may be whatever circumstances require. 
In a level district all the pipes of the system may 
have this minimum inclination, but where the town 
is built on irregular surfaces one pipe may lie at this 
slight pitch, and the very next one may, without 
detriment, have an inclination of forty-five degrees 
or more. All tend toward the same central point, 
and may have more or less fall in that direction. 
But each pipe has its flow interrupted by the trap 
or vertical step referred to. Figure 25 shows two 



steep inclination, and b is a pipe 


such pipes, 
leading from 
two different 
houses and de¬ 
livering to the 
same street 
main: a is a 
pipe with a very 
at the minimum 



liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 291 

inclination. The dotted lines l l show the height 
to which the liquid must rise in the pipes toward a 
and b before it can begin to flow over the high 
points h. If the production of either house is more 
than enough to fill the depression in the pipe below 
the dotted lines, any addition to the quantity will 
simply cause a discharge by gravitation over the 
angle 7i, and the liquid will flow on by its own force 
toward the reservoir. This flow will of course con¬ 
tinue so long as there is an addition to the volume 
at the higher end, but the amount of liquid stand¬ 
ing below the level of the dotted lines must always 
remain there until some artificial force is applied to 
move it. Now suppose the suction of a vacuum to 
be applied at the main pipe c. The pressure of the 
air is brought to bear on the surfaces of the liquid 
at the points 7c, forcing the whole mass forward over 
the high points h. The flow begins at the same in¬ 
stant in both pipes, but as there is a larger volume 
in the pipe having the more gradual (and longer) 
slope, and as the vertical descent of the two surfaces 
must be exactly the same, the amount flowing out 
of the pipe b will be greater than that flowing out 
of the pipe a, until h has descended to the lowest 
point 67, when in both pipes there are equal columns 
to be overcome (from li to 67), each twelve inches 
high, and, as the pressure is equal, these are drawn 
wer simultaneously. This principle is applied in 
practice even to one hundred and fifty pipes sub¬ 
jected to the force of the same vacuum, so that those 
of a whole district are exhausted at the same mo¬ 
ment. , 


292 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

In addition to the difference of inclination, there 
is also a great difference in the quantity of material 
to be treated, and these different quantities are 
equally well managed by the same system. In 
Figure 26, c is the main pipe connected with the 

vacuum chamber. 
We will suppose 
a to be the outlet 
pipe of a large 
Figure 26. hotel, and b that 

of a small cottage in which only two persons are 
living. The pipe a receives an amount of liquid 
which will fill the space below the lines l l in an 
hour. During the remaining twenty-three hours of 
the day its sewage matter flows on directly toward 
the central reservoir; but the accumulation in the 
pipe b is only sufficient during twenty-four hours to 
fill the vertical part of the pipe between h and d. 
Of course this matter will lie level in the angle, and 
will rise but a part of the distance between d and h. 
When the vacuum is applied, the atmospheric 
pressure at b bears down upon the small supply and 
tends to raise it toward /}, but at the same time an 
equal pressure in the pipe a is forcing forward the 
contents of that pipe and pouring them over the 
height. The contents of b cannot reach the point h 
until the quantity in the pipe a is reduced to the 
same amount, that is, until the whole pipe between 
d and a and d and b is emptied ; then there will 
stand in the two pipes two columns, each twelve 
inches high, ready to pass over at the same mo¬ 
ment. 





liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 293 

This device has enabled Liernur to do away with 
every faucet or stop-cock in his whole system of 
pipes, except a single one in the main. By opening 
this the force of the vacuum is brought to bear 
equally and instantly upon the house pipes of the 
whole system, with a quick pneumatic shock whose 
suddenly applied force is deemed important. It is 
thus made certain that there can at no point be a 
useless escape of air, until every one of the pipes 
has been exhausted of its contents ; of course, at the 
angle, a small quantity will fall back after the air 
begins to flow over. 

The arrangement of house closets is very simple : 
they are, wherever practicable, for economy’s sake 
placed vertically one over the other on the different 
floors, in order that they may 
reach the outflow through the 
same down-pipe. The closet, as 
originally made, is a simple fun¬ 
nel of iron or earthen-ware with 
a bend trap at the bottom, as 
shown in Figure 27, a pan of en¬ 
ameled iron or whitened earthen¬ 
ware being inserted at the top for 
better appearance. From the 
highest point of the main pipe, 
sutside of the trap, there rises a 
ventilating pipe, v, reaching above 
the top of the house, and this pipe has a branch for 
the ventilation of the funnel, which it enters near 
its top, at a point behind the pan. The action of 







294 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


this branch is to afford an outlet for gases forming 
in the funnel and to cause a down draught when 
the lid is opened, so that there may never be an 
escape of foul air into the room. It is recom¬ 
mended, when practicable, to place these closets 
next to the outer wall of the house and to supply 
each with an open window, or in some manner to 
give a thorough ventilation. The pipes descending 
from the closets, the service pipes of the different 
houses, and the mains in the streets (in each dis¬ 
trict) are all five-inch cast-iron pipes, secured at the 
joints in the same manner as gas pipes. 

So far as the emptying of the closets is concerned, 
it is thought that the system, as described, is en¬ 
tirely complete and satisfactory. The next problem 
was to apply it to the solid matters of the kitchen 
waste pipe. The amount of water flowing from the 
kitchen, from bath-tubs, etc., is much greater than 
it would be economical to treat by the pneumatic 
process, and a separate outflow is provided for them 
to the same system of sewers that is used for the re¬ 
moval of storm and subsoil waters. Figure 28 shows 


the arrangement 
of the kitchen 
drain apparatus : 
a is a reservoir, 
say one foot 
square, furnished 
four inches below 
its top with a 



F;'gure 28. 


grate or screen fine enough to prevent the escape 
















LIERNUR S PNEUMATIC SYSTEM OF SEWERAGE. 295 


of any coarse matters which might obstruct the 
street sewer, or which it is worth while to preserve 
as manure. The bottom of the reservoir is curved, 
and is connected with a pneumatic sewer pipe ; the 
outlet c takes, immediately, the rise of twelve inches 
needed to preserve the barometric resistance. The 
house drain d discharges its contents into the reser¬ 
voir below the screen ; it has a bend trap deep 
enough to give a decided resistance to atmospheric 
pressure. The flow from the house passes into the 
reservoir < 2 , and its excess of water rises through the 
screen and flows off at b. During the day, more or 
less solid matter is accumulated below the screen, 
and when the pneumatic pressure is brought to bear, 
by opening the main pipe near the vacuum cham¬ 
ber, it is, simultaneously with the closet pipes, 
emptied of its contents, and at the same time what¬ 
ever matters have adhered to the bottom of the 
screen are forcibly blown away by the pressure of 
air descending through it. In this way, while the 
chief volume of water or other liquid matters is got 
rid of at once through the sewers, the more valuable 
solid material, which would create inconvenience in 
the sewers, and which has a manurial value, is 
added to the products of the closets for treatment 
with them during the subsequent processes of the 
system. 

A locomobile engine having somewhat the ap¬ 
pearance of a steam fire-engine, carrying a steam- 
engine and air-pump, and followed by a tender in 
the form of an iron tank, to which its air-pump may 


296 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

be attached, is used during the construction of the 
work, before the different street reservoirs are con¬ 
nected with a main central pumping station. The 
air-pump is attached to the opening at the top of 
the street reservoir, from which it exhausts the air, 
making about a three-quarter vacuum. The cocks 
in the mains being opened, the house-wash of the 
district flows into the reservoir, which is then 
closed, and the air-pump exhausts the tank of 
the tender. Then this is closed and its supply 
pipe is connected with the pipe reaching to the 
bottom of the reservoir, when, the valves being 
opened and the air being admitted to the top of the 
street reservoir, the contents of the latter are sucked 
into the tank, which may be driven away to the 
point of discharge. 

This locomobile serves to demonstrate the practi¬ 
cability of the system, and is an indispensable ac¬ 
companiment of the earlier steps of construction. 
But its purpose is only a temporary one, and as fast 
as may be the street reservoirs are connected with 
the central station, by pipes which it is often nec¬ 
essary to make larger than five inches owing to the 
quantity of liquid to be discharged through them. 
Each central station may answer for a district of 
sa} T fifty thousand or sixty thousand inhabitants. 

At this station a fixed engine and large receiving 
tanks serve for the numerous street reservoirs the 
same purpose that these (with the locomobile) orig¬ 
inally served for the houses of their separate dis¬ 
tricts. The tanks at this station have sufficient 


liernur's pneumatic system of sewerage. 297 

capacity to receive the contents of the whole set of 
street reservoirs with which they are connected, and 
the engine has a sufficient power to maintain the 
required vacuum in these and in the main pipes. 
By precisely the process heretofore explained, the 
contents of the reservoirs are drawn to these tanks, 
and are made ready for their subsequent treatment. 

The receiving tanks at the central station, which 
may be one or more in number, are large enough to 
store the contents of all the street reservoirs of the 
district. They are located in the basement, and 
each has an indicator by which the engineer can see 
when it is filled. We will now assume that all of 
the street reservoirs have been emptied, and that 
the tanks in the basement are filled. These tanks 
communicate by suction tubes with a similar tank 
elevated above the main floor of the building, which 
has also an indicator showing the level of its con¬ 
tents. This upper tank is exhausted of its air by 
the air-pump, and the communication between it 
and the bottom of one of the tanks in the basement 
being open, it fills itself with the liquid, which is 
now ready to be treated by the poudrette apparatus. 
For this purpose it is allowed to flow into a vertical 
tank, in the bottom of which there are coils of pipe 
connected with the exhaust pipe of the steam-engine. 

The steam, on its escape from the exhaust valve, 
passes through a coil in a superheating chamber 
where the products of combustion on their way to 
ihe chimney, flowing around the coil, give the steam 
an additional heat. This reheated steam passing 


298 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

through the coils in the evaporating tank produces 
a furious ebulition and a rapid evaporation of the 
water of its contents. The condensation at the 
next stage of the process of the vapors thus formed, 
tends to produce a partial vacuum above the boiling 
liquid, so that this rapid evaporation may even take 
place at a temperature below that of boiling water. 
The condenser into which these vapors pass is a 
copper drum, the temperature of which they raise 
probably to two hundred degrees Fahrenheit. This 
drum revolves slowly, its lower part passing through 
the semi-desiccated, pappy liquid drawn from the 
evaporator first described. As it makes its slow 
revolution it carries up a film of the pap, which the 
heat within renders perfectly dry, so that near the 
end of the rotation it may be scraped off by a sta¬ 
tionary knife, and fall into a receiver below in a 
desiccated state, ready to be packed in bags or bar¬ 
rels for agricultural use. 

This desiccated poudrette contains all or nearly 
all of the organic refuse of the household, not only 
the contents of the closets, but the particles of un¬ 
used food, grease, and other solid constituents of the 
kitchen waste. The chief difference in condition 
between it and guano, or the manufactured pou¬ 
drette of commerce, is that the matters it con¬ 
tains have had no opportunity to pass into a state 
of decomposition. Ordinarily, within thirty-six 
hours from the time of their production in the house 
they have all been transported to the central station 
without exposure to the air, desiccated, and packed 


LIERNUR S PNEUMATIC SYSTEM OF SEWERAGE. 299 

away. As during the evaporating process a small 
quantity of sulphuric acid is added to the liquid, any 
ammonia produced by incipient fermentation is ren¬ 
dered non-volatile. 

Concerning the value of this Liernur poudrette I 
have no other evidence than the following account 
of Professor Voelcker’s analysis given in Mr. Adam 
Scott’s description of the system, in the “ Sanitary 
Record ” of November 21,1874. 

An analysis by Professor Voelcker, chemist of 
the Royal Agricultural Society, dated August 15, 
1874, of a sample submitted to him by Sir Philip 
Rose, Bart., showed it to contain : — 


Moisture ......... 8*64 

Organic matter 1 .62.96 

Oxide of iron and alumina.3.29 

Phosphoric acid.1.76 

Lime.0.86 

Chlorine.6.22 

Sulphuric acid.6.02 

Alkaline salts.8.20 

Silica.2.05 


100.00 


So far as I have been able to learn there has been 
no sufficient practical test made of the value of this 
poudrette, but when we consider the substances 
from which it is produced, it seems impossible that 
it should not have a great value, and Liernur and 
his advocates bring ample theoretical evidence in 
support of its claims. If it is true that the waste of 
the constituents of food which characterizes the do- 

1 Containing nitrogen 9.35, equal to ammonia 11.35. 









800 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

mestic habits of all our towns is leading to the ulti¬ 
mate impoverishment of our fields, we can hardly 
regard with too much interest any process that 
promises to restore so nearly the entire amount of 
their products consumed and squandered in our 
households. 

Mr. Scott, in the article referred to, thus describes 
the practical working of the system: — 

“ The air-pump engine is set in motion, and main¬ 
tains during the day a three-quarter vacuum in cer¬ 
tain central reservoirs, placed below the floor of the 
building, and at the same time in the central pipes. 
Workmen perambulate the town, visiting each tank 
once a day. To drain the houses commanded by 
one tank, they alternately open the connecting cock 
of the central pipe and the stop-cock of any main 
pipe ; the first to obtain a vacuum in the tank, the 
second to utilize this by emptying the closet-pipes 
connected with that particular main. After all the 
mains of the tanks in question have been operated 
upon, and their contents collected in the tank, the 
workman turns the discharging cock to send the 
whole mass to the central builing for immediate 
conversion into poudrette. He then proceeds to 
the next tank, there to repeat the operation.” 

One of the minor objections anticipated by its 
inventor to the general introduction of this system 
is to be found in the fact that an influential class in 
every community where the water system has been 
introduced may object to any less fastidious substi¬ 
tute for the water-closet. To meet this objection 


liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 301 

there has been devised an apparatus, in which 
water is used, which seems completely to compass 
the requirements, but the practical need for its use is 
too slight for it to be considered as an essential part 
of the system. And indeed it is better that at 
every step of the process there should be as little 
extraneous water as practicable thrown into the 
pipes. The natural product of liquid matters in 
every household is sufficient to insure the proper 
pneumatic action, and all additions beyoud this 
create an increased demand for fuel for the final 
dessication. 

It is thought by the advocates of the pneumatic 
sewerage that all other systems thus far tried, in 
addition to their danger to the public health, are 
necessarily and always very expensive, there being 
no offset in the way of profit that can possibty les¬ 
sen the taxable charges required for their construc¬ 
tion and operation. It is believed also that these 
taxable charges are an excuse for the raising of 
rents, and consequently for the crowding of the 
working classes into smaller and less commodious 
and less healthful quarters than they might have 
were the town free from the necessity for making 
this excessive yearly outlay. 

It is no doubt too early in the history of pneu¬ 
matic sewerage for figures based on actual experi¬ 
ence to be adduced in support of its economy, but 
the published estimates, which so far as one can 
judge are based entirely on similar uses of steam, 
tost of laying pipes, etc., and which are apparently 


802 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


reliable and correct, show that so far from being a 
source of expense, the fecal matters of the town 
may constitute a reliable source of income. Such 
estimates have too often to be modified, in the light 
of subsequent experience in actual practice, to be 
relied upon with great confidence, but there seems 
to be a sufficient margin to cover any unforeseen con¬ 
tingencies and still to leave an important amount 
to be credited against the costs of working. 

It is stated that the cost of the work in Amster¬ 
dam, including royalties, engineering, plant, ma¬ 
chinery, and the necessary changes in houses, was 
not quite <£2 10s. per inhabitant. To be on the 
safe side, Mr. Scott estimates that the cost in an 
English town would be £4 per inhabitant, and he 
applies his calculation to a town area of 250 acres, 
with a population (75 per acre) of 18,750, placing 
the total cost of the works at £75,000. So far as 
the Liernur system alone is concerned, without re- 
fering to the storm-water sewerage, the cost would 
be, pro rata , the same for a small town as for a 
large one, provided the population is of the same 
density. 

“ Using the figures and proportions given by 
Captain Liernur, the following would be the esti¬ 
mate of working expenses per day : — 


Coal, — Power of air-pump engine required, 80 indicated horse¬ 
power. Consumes, at 5 lbs. per horse-power per hour, in 
twelve hours, 4,800 lbs. coal. Of the caloric due to this there 
is converted into work eight per cent., or caloric due to 384 
lbs., leaving the calorics of 4,800—384=4,416 lbs. on hand for 
evaporating purposes. There is, however, to evaporate 54 


liernur's pneumatic system of sewerage. 303 

ounces per day for 18,750 persons, making 63,281 lbs. water, 
requiring with drying apparatus a double effet, 63 , 281 - 4 - 12 =: 

5,273 lbs. of coal, for which there is left the above 4,416. 

There is hence wanted 5,273—4,416=857 lbs. additionally to 
the 4,800 lbs. of the air-pump engine, making in all 4,800+857 
=5,657, or say 2^ tons of coal per day, which, at 25s. per ton £ s. d. 

gives.3 2 6 

Oil . . . . . . . . . . . 040 

One machinist and eleven laborers.2 0 0 

Administration, repairs, and sundries.0 13 6 

6 0 0 

Making per year, £6x365 . 2,190 0 0 

To this would have to be added, — 

For interest on capital of £75,0(X» borrowed from local 
board, including redemption, at tour per cent, per an¬ 
num .£3,000 

For renewal fund of machinery, at eight per cent, on 

£3,000 . 240 

-3,240 0 0 

Total expenses. 5,430 0 0 

“ The income would be, however, the poudrette 
manure of 18,750 persons, which, at 10s. per head, 
gives annually the sum of £9,375, leaving, after de¬ 
ducting above expenses, nearly £4,000 annually as 
clear profit, after paying every charge.” 

This calculation is based on an estimate of ninety 
per cent, of water and ten per cent, of solid matter 
in the liquid as it is received at the central station. 
By an application of the same data to liquid con¬ 
taining ninety-five per cent, of water, the cost of 
evaporation with coal at twenty-five shillings per 
ton would be £1,081 in addition, which would re¬ 
duce the net profit from £3,940 to £2,869. It is to 
be observed that with us his data would have to be 







304 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

materially changed, the cost of coal and labor being 
much greater, interest being at least six per cent, 
instead of four per cent., and the agricultural value 
of the product being certainly no larger. 

What has been thus far given covers my knowl¬ 
edge of the Liernur system as derived from the 
various publications concerning it. It seemed wor¬ 
thy of further investigation, and I devoted some 
time to its study during a recent visit to Europe. 

At Captain Liernur’s office, in Frankfort-on-the- 
Main, I was shown the working drawings of every 
part of the system, and had all its details clearly 
explained by its very intelligent inventor, who to a 
thorough familiarity with modern sanitary engineer¬ 
ing adds the most unbounded and enthusiastic be¬ 
lief in the merits of his own invention. I learned 
that steps are now being taken for an important 
trial in the city of St. Petersburg, at the hands of a 
company, who, upon its success being demonstrated, 
hope for a concession for the sewerage of the whole 
town. The conditions there existing are the same 
as in other places where actual trials have been 
made, save that the intense cold and the consequent 
necessity for placing the apparatus deep below the 
surface of the ground must increase the cost of con¬ 
struction, and, so far as house-pipes are concerned, 
may present many difficulties to be overcome. The 
use of the system at military barracks in Austria 
and Hungary was described as having been success 
ful and profitable, but I was directed, for an ocular 
demonstration of pueumatic sewerage in actual 


liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 305 

operation, to visit Amsterdam and Leyden, in Hol¬ 
land, where the earliest trials were made, and Dor- 
trecht, where the whole invention in its entirety is 
being adopted. 

At Dortrecht, Liernur’s partner, Mr. De Bruyn 
Kops, is constructing works for a large part of the 
town, to be subsequently extended over the whole. 
The central station was nearly finished, and con¬ 
tained a thirty-five horse-power steam-engine, and 
an air-pump suited to its capacity; basement tanks 
capable of holding two days’ product of the whole 
town ; an elevated tank through which to transfer 
the liquid to the poudrette apparatus ; and this ap¬ 
paratus itself, which was complete and had been in 
use. The superheating effect of the escaping prod¬ 
ucts of combustion had been found insufficient, and 
a separate furnace with a small fire had been pro¬ 
vided to raise the heat of the steam to the required 
point. The attempt to manufacture poudrette had 
not been entirely successful, that is, the product was 
rather moist and pasty than dry, and some modifi¬ 
cations were being made in the machinery which 
rendered it impossible for the station to be at work 
during my visit. Pending these repairs the street 
reservoirs were being emptied by the locomobile," 
but as I was to see this in operation in Amsterdam, 
it was not thought worth while to bring it out. From 
the station we visited the poorest quarter of the 
town, in which the pipes had been laid, passing 
through a district that still depended for its cleans¬ 
ing upon a sluggish canal, — a canal of the most 


806 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

offensive description, its surface constantly bubbling 
with the gases of the decomposing filth it contained. 
Similar canals had been filled up in front of the 
houses connected with the pneumatic system, and 
this of itself should be a sufficient improvement to 
satisfy the Dortrecht authorities with their outlay. 
We visited closets in houses and in yards, and so 
far as I could judge from the manner of those who 
exhibited them, these were perfectly satisfactory in 
their operation. Equally unobjectionable closets in 
the houses of people of a corresponding class I have 
never before seen, and my general impression of the 
condition of the work in this town was that it may 
be in a fair way to prove all that its inventor claims 
for it, except possibly in the manufacture and value 
of the poudrette. 

The next day we went to Amsterdam, where 
(and at Leyden) the first experiments with the 
system were made. It is now in universal use in 
nine considerable sections of the town, and is being 
gradually extended. The poudrette apparatus is 
not in use there ; indeed, the only set thus far put 
up is the one now being experimented with at Dor¬ 
trecht. At all the stations in Amsterdam the liquid 
is run into barrels and transported to the country 
by canal-boats, being sold, thus far, for a nominal 
sum, very much less than would be its value here. 

At the first station which we visited the engine 
was out of order, and we could see nothing ; but at 
the second station it was demonstrated in my pres¬ 
ence that the working of the air-pump and its effect 


LIERNUR’S PNEUMATIC system of sewerage. 30T 

on the street reservoirs of its district are entirely 
satisfactory. The liquid was transferred from house 
pipes to several street reservoirs, from these to the 
basement tanks at the station, and from these to 
the elevated tank from which the barrels are sup¬ 
plied, with certainty and regularity. In one case it 
was necessary to carry a main pipe, by a siphon, 
under a canal, and the transferring of the liquid 
through this was entirely successful. Indeed, if the 
object were only to transport in a quiet, inoffensive, 
and entirely hidden manner the products of private 
houses to a depot whence they can be inoffensively 
shipped to the country, my investigation seemed to 
prove clearly that entire success had been attained. 

I hoped before leaving Holland to be able to see 
the Dortrecht poudrette works in successful opera¬ 
tion ; but a further trial, although it showed a great 
improvement, left something still to be desired, and 
the apparatus was not in satisfactory working at the 
time of my leaving the country. 

In Amsterdam we visited a great number of 
houses of all classes, — a large children’s hospital, 
private houses of the best class, tenement houses 
occupied by working people, an old ladies’ home, 
and in one case a nest of sailor boarding-houses, 
which were said to be the worst in the whole town. 
This examination was of course made under the 
guidance of one who was interested in the success of 
the system, and it is possible that, had I been con¬ 
ducted by one opposed to it (and there are such), I 
might have been shown instances of failure. As it 


808 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

was, I can only say that under all the circumstances 
and conditions, both where the greatest attention 
was given to cleanliness and where the greatest 
neglect seemed to prevail, I found the condition of 
afiairs in all cases good, and among the lower classes 
infinitely better than would be found in similar es¬ 
tablishments in London or in New York, where the 
water system and the common vault prevail, though 
to the eye a well-kept water-closet is preferable. 

Subsequently I took occasion to talk with several 
gentlemen of intelligence in Holland about the suc¬ 
cess and the prospects of the system. Of these, 
none were opposed to it, and some favored it very 
strongly. Mr. Van der Poll, the Dikegraaf of the 
Haarlem Lake Polder, who is an engineer of high 
standing and of sound judgment, gave it as his opin¬ 
ion that it must inevitably come into universal use 
in all the towns of Holland, although he was not 
prepared to say that it is better than water sewer¬ 
age for places where a good and suitably located 
outfall can be had. Another friend was glad to get 
my opinion, for the reason that so much passion had 
been shown in all discussions of the subject in Am¬ 
sterdam that it was impossible for disinterested per¬ 
sons to weigh the evidence for or against it. It was 
stated that there had been very serious opposition, 
and that the early introduction and working had 
been embarrassed by the fiercest opposition of the 
chief official who was directed with its execution, but 
that in spite of this, and of all the drawbacks at* 
tendant upon the education of the people in a new 


likrnur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 309 

process, and all the mistakes inseparable from the 
practical development of a new invention, it had 
steadily made its way in popular favor, and had es¬ 
pecially won the approval of the city officials, under 
whose direction it is now carried on. (An official 
told me this.) In one instance a large speculator 
in real estate, one who buys blocks of ground and 
builds houses for sale, had been originally a very 
strong opponent, protesting most earnestly against 
the introduction of the system in districts in which 
he was interested. He is said now to petition for 
its introduction in each new district in which he 
buys property. 

These statements are made with the reiterated 
qualification that my investigation was made under 
the guidance of one who is pecuniarily interested in 
the invention, and who had it in his power to mis¬ 
lead me, but who, I am glad to say, impressed me 
as a frank and fair-minded gentleman, who made no 
attempt to conceal defects, or to bias my judgment. 
Since my return I have learned that Dr. Folsom, 
Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Health, 
found his inspection of the working of the system in 
Amsterdam very unsatisfactory. 

The question that naturally suggests itself is 
whether Liernur’s pneumatics are to solve the whole 
sewerage problem. It would no doubt be safe to 
answer this, at once, in the negative, but it should 
be a negative with many qualifications. The whole 
problem is now so entirely unsolved, and is so em¬ 
barrassed with intricacies and difficulties at every 


310 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


turn ; it is of such vital consequence when regarded 
from the point of view of the public health ; and it 
appeals so directly to the strongest interest of every 
householder, that no one interested in the subject 
can fail to give very careful attention to any sug¬ 
gestion of relief which promises so much as Lier- 
nur's does promise, and which is in all its details so 
complete and so well-balanced, and is apparently so 
successful in each department of its mechanical 
action. 

On the other hand, we have been so long relying 
on the system of water carriage, and we have so 
long ascribed to it every advantage, only to find it 
riddled and honey-combed with faults, as time has 
brought us better acquainted with it; and a large 
class has placed such implicit confidence in the dry- 
earth system, only to find it almost impossible of 
introduction in an average community, that no one 
who has been long interested in the general question 
can be expected to glow with enthusiasm over any 
new process that may be brought to notice. Lier- 
nur has struck out a new path, but it is a new path 
in an old field, in which we have learned to look out 
for pitfalls and ambushes at every step. We may 
well hope (and 1 unreservedly believe) that there is 
much in his invention that is of intrinsic value, and 
that it will perhaps accomplish all that we have so 
long sought. At the same time its success is cer¬ 
tainly not to be achieved through a blind enthusi¬ 
asm, ready to accept it as the final cure of the great 
and universal disease in our domestic economies 
against which it proposes to contend. 


LIERNUli’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 311 

While, therefore, it is to-day unquestionably the 
most interesting new fact in sanitary engineering, 
and is worthy of the most careful experiment and 
even the most expensive investigation at the hands 
of local governments, the investigation and the ex¬ 
periment should be made with a clear understanding 
that the time given to them and the money spent 
upon them may bring but little return. The diffi¬ 
culties we are contending with are so grave, and the 
dangers to life and health and usefulness are so 
threatening, that we may well afford to tax our¬ 
selves as largely as may be necessary in order to de¬ 
monstrate whether this new process, for which so 
much is claimed and which has so many firm adher¬ 
ents among those who have been living under its 
daily operation for some years, is or is not to open 
the door for our escape. Much that has hitherto 
been written about it has been of that enthusiastic 
and confident character that made its success appear 
at first blush a foregone conclusion. It seems to be 
better that, however great our individual confidence 
may be, —and I repeat that my own is very great, 
— we should undertake this trial resolutely and 
determinedly, but should at the same time be quite 
prepared for entire or partial failure. 

The more ardent advocates of the system lay 
great stress upon its economical features, and seem 
to depend very much upon the prospect of profit for 
the reenforcement of their arguments. Let us rather 
cake the wiser course of throwing the questions of 
profit and economy entirely into the background, 


312 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


where they belong. This is a subject that reaches 
much farther than any pecuniary interest, and it is 
one whose pecuniary interest centres much more in 
the lengthened life and full, healthful efficiency of 
our populations than in any question of the cost of 
constructing works, or of proceeds from the sale of 
manure. If it is found that with our price of ma¬ 
chinery, labor, fuel, interest, and manure we can 
sell the product of Liernur’s poudrette apparatus or 
the liquid drawn from Liernur’s vacuum tanks at a 
price that will give a profit, or even will help ma¬ 
terially to defray the expense of the system, it will 
be so much gained ; but our people are quite pre¬ 
pared to take such a view of the sanitary question as 
makes all this far less than secondary. If the ele¬ 
ments of fertility can be saved for return to our 
fields, and so continue and increase our prosperity, 
the benefit resulting will be immeasurable ; but this 
benefit is, to the common understanding, too vague 
and theoretical to have much influence on the minds 
of the average denizens of towns. 

Any prudent community, interested in the refor¬ 
mation of its present health-destroying process, will 
naturally and properly set aside all considerations 
of this character, and make their investigations of 
Liernur's pneumatic sewerage, or of any other sys¬ 
tem that may promise them relief, with an almost 
sole view to the completeness of its sanitary advan¬ 
tages, and to its practicability from a mechanical 
and commercial point of view. 

All that it is safe to say about the system now, in 


liernur’s pneumatic system of sewerage. 313 

its relation to our own condition, is that it is, as re¬ 
garded in the light of what we know about the 
water system and the dry-earth system, sufficiently 
promising to justify the most energetic investigation. 
So far as I know, its opponents have adduced noth¬ 
ing against it that may not be remedied by practica¬ 
ble mechanical improvements, and its advocates, 
who are many, speak of its advantages with a confi¬ 
dence that, often at least, has grown from favorable 
experience of its practical working. 


CHAPTER X. 


THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 

The problem of sewage disposal is always seri¬ 
ous, and it becomes more and more so, as popula¬ 
tion increases, and as sewered towns multiply. 
How to get rid of the offscourings of any commu¬ 
nity in such a way that there shall be no return 
of offensive and dangerous odors; that there shall 
be no accumulation of foul matters inconveniently 
near; and that there shall be no tainting of the 
source of the water supply of other towns, is a ques¬ 
tion which taxes, and often overtaxes the ingenu¬ 
ity of the engineer, and the paying capacity of the 
finance department. 

The limits of this book would not suffice for an 
adequate description of the varied experience of 
English towns in this matter. After years of 
trial, and millions of expenditure, the authorities 
on the subject are widely at variance as to what 
may best be done, and the more prudent of those 
who have given thought to the matter seem as far 
as ever from accepting any result yet accomplished 
as satisfactory. 

Many schemes are urged by enthusiastic advo¬ 
cates, as offering sovereign remedies for the evil. 
All of these attach more or less weight to the value 



THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 


315 


of the material under consideration for fertilizing 
purposes, and those are not few who have hoped 
to derive from the use of sewer water large profits 
in return, from the adoption of their various devices. 

I can only say here, that none of these schemes 
have so far achieved the success claimed for them, 
as to gain the confidence of the engineering world 
at large. The facts remain that the material in 
question is extremely troublesome; that it must be 
got rid of in some way at all hazards ; that it must 
not be allowed to injure the health of those pro¬ 
ducing it, or of other communities, and, worst of all, 
that its manurial value seems to be less than is 
needed for its profitable use (unless in a few special 
cases) under the plans thus far devised. Without 
going at all into the question of the disposal of the 
sewage of large towns, farther than it has already 
been considered in earlier chapters, I propose merely 
to call attention to one or two devices which seem to 
afford relief in the case of small villages, and espe¬ 
cially of large or small private establishments. 

IRRIGATION. 

As a general principle it may be stated that in 
sewage irrigation the amount of land appropriated 
should not be less than one acre to one hundred 
and fifty of population, and should lie not more than 
a mile from the town. The same land should not 
receive sewage two days in succession, and each 
area should have occasional periods of rest for a 
whole growing season. 


316 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

If the land is of a very retentive character, even 
if well underdrained, it would be better to allow one 
acre to one hundred of population. 

This applies to the ordinary irrigation of agricult¬ 
ural fields, by surface flow, but Mr. J. Bailey Den¬ 
ton, who is an old, and very accomplished drainage 
engineer, adopted a new system in treating the sew¬ 
age of Merthyr-Tydvil, in Wales, which has there 
had a success that seems fully to justify its repeti¬ 
tion wherever a suitable soil, and a sufficiently mild 
climate admit of it. In this case the purpose was 
not especially to turn the sewage to profit, but to 
purify it of its organic matters, so that it could be 
run into a stream without polluting its waters. Mr. 
Denton calls this system “ Intermittent Downward 
Filtration.” A gravelly soil is thoroughly under¬ 
drained at a depth of six feet, and is divided into 
two separate plots to which the sewage is applied 
alternately. After a certain amount has passed 
through one field the supply is turned on to the sec¬ 
ond, and the first is allowed to become thoroughly 
aerated, and so cleansed by the oxidation of the or¬ 
ganic matters that it has taken up, as to be ready 
again to serve its purpose as a filter. 

The latest report from these irrigating fields, 
which have now been several years in use, comes 
from Dr. Dyke, the health officer of Merthyr-Tydvil, 
whose last annual report bears testimony in favor of 
the svstem of intermittent downward filtration. 
Speaking of a plat of twenty acres laid out to re¬ 
ceive sewage on Mr. Bailey Denton’s plan, Mr. 


THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 


317 


Dyke declares that the system is cleanly, odorless, 
and perfect in all its details. As a part of his duty, 
he has from time to time examined the water flow¬ 
ing from the outlet, and has satisfied himself that 
there has been no perceptible increase in the amount 
of its organic matter. In July, 1872, it was proved 
by the investigation made by Dr. Frankland to con¬ 
tain only one part of organic matter in 200,000 parts 
of water ; and in 1874 it was found still just as free 
from impurity, showing that no saturation of the 
soil with filth took place, the growth of vegetables 
on the surface, and the aeration effected by drainage 
doing the work of purification effectually. In an¬ 
other part of the report, which treats of the classes 
of disorders met with in the district, Dr. Dyke re¬ 
calls certain prophecies, made when the sewage- 
farm system was introduced, that the vegetables 
grown under its means would act prejudicially on 
the public health. So far from this being the case 
at Merthyr, there are hundreds of young children 
brought up on the milk of stall kept cows, fed par¬ 
tially on grass grown on sewage-irrigated meadows; 
yet the mortality among them from diarrhoea and 
similar complaints is exceptionally low, and all 
medical men in the district agree that this type of 
disease among persons of all ages has diminished of 
j.ate years, for the plain reason, no doubt, that 
whilst sewage-irrigated vegetables have been intro¬ 
duced, a good water-supply and a thorough system 
:>f drainage have been introduced with them. 1 
l Sanitary Record , October 30, 1875. 


318 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


ARTIFICIAL PURIFICATION". 

The following account of the experience at Cov¬ 
entry (England), illustrates very well one of the 
more successful cleansing processes. 

The corporation of Coventry, having been ordered 
by the Court of Chancery to discontinue the pollution 
of the river Sherburne, contracted with The General 
Sewage Company for the treatment of their sewage. 
The works were completed in April, 1874, since 
which time they have been constantly working in 
the most satisfactory manner. An average of two 
million gallons are treated daily. “ The sewage, 
strained and freed from its grosser contents, passes 
through a block of buildings where it receives con- 
tinuously a charge of sulphate of alumina in solu¬ 
tion, and is thoroughly mixed therewith. These 
buildings are well provided with steam-engines, 
boilers, and mixers, as well as ample machinery of 
a first-class character, adapted not only for the 
admixture of the chemicals with the sewage, but 
also for the manufacture of the chemicals employed. 
The effluent water is in a sufficient state of purity 
to enter most rivers or the sea. It is, however, in 
this condition, subjected to a process of filtration, 
and for that purpose is conveyed to a filter-bed 
properly drained and prepared. It has been found 
that a comparatively small quantity of land (four 
acres and a half) would suffice to filter the effluent 
water from the sewage of Coventry. Nine acres 
have, however, been prepared, for the purpose of 


THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 


313 


always having another filter-bed ready when the one 
last in use requires rest or repair. The effluent 
water, as it passes into the river Sherburne from the 
three large mains of the filter, at the rate of about 
80,000 gallons per hour, is clear and bright, and not 
only so, but of a high standard of purity, as is shown 
by the analysis of it made by Dr. Yoelcker, who 
says : 4 The water has no perceptible smell, an 1 is 

almost free from color ; it contains but little or¬ 
ganic (albuminoid) ammonia, and not much more 
than half a grain of saline ammonia per gallon. 
And, further, that the nitrogenous organic constitu¬ 
ents of raw sewage appear to have become oxidized 
and changed into nitrates to a very large extent.’ 
The sewage of Coventry, at noon, has been found 
to contain as much as 5.85 parts of ammonia in 
100,000 parts.” 

The sludge or solid precipitated matter amounting 
to about twenty tons per day is dried and sold for 
manure. The process requires chemicals to the 
value of <£2 12s. 10c?. (say about $13), for the puri¬ 
fication of one million gallons. The whole sewage 
pperation at Coventry cost per annum about 5c?. or 
6c?. per head of population. 

THE DENTON AND FIELD STORAGE TANK. 

In order to secure an intermittent flow for the 
general application of his downward filtration sys¬ 
tem, Mr. Bailey Denton has, in connection with Mr. 
Field, applied the principle of the Flush Tank to 
the use in agricultural irrigation of the sewage of 


320 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

small communities, — where the constant stream is 
too slight to secure the flooding of a sufficient area 
for an economical use of the sewage, and for inter¬ 
mittent application to successive fields. 

At the hamlet of Eastwick near Leatherhead, in 
Surry, this system has been in operation for the past 
three or four years and as this is the oldest experi¬ 
ment with a new and apparently very valuable de¬ 
vice, it seems worth while to reproduce the descrip¬ 
tion of it from Dr. Simon’s report of 1874 (Netten 
Radcliffe’s paper). 

“ Eastwick is a hamlet of fifteen houses, including 
the mansion of the proprietor and the farm home¬ 
stead ; and it has a population of about one hundred 
and forty-five. In devising a system of excrement 
and slop disposal for the place, any general plan of 
water sewerage had to be set aside, the water de¬ 
rived from wells being variable in quantity, and at 
no time too abundant for ordinary domestic use, ir¬ 
respective of water-closets. The common privy was 
retained for the cottages, but the privy-pit was con¬ 
verted into a water-tight receptacle beneath the 
floor of the closet, and the cottagers were instructed 
to throw into it above the excrement, the refuse 
ashes, and to remove the contents of the pit monthly 
for use in their gardens. Four water-closets exist 
and five earth-closets for the use of the mansion and 
its precincts; and one water closet and three earth- 
closets for the use of the farm homestead. To pro¬ 
vide for the liquid house refuse of the hamlet, and 
for the drainage of the farm buildings, the scheme 


THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 


321 


of sewerage was carried out by Mr. Bailey Denton, 
which is shown in the accompanying plan, and which 
has an outlet in a meter tank, of which the plan 
and section are given in the following Figures.” 

“ The tank is in two compartments to admit of 
cleansing without entire disuse. It has a capacity 
of live hundred gallons, and it fills and discharges 
in ordinary dry weather three times in two days. 
The several discharges are directed successively in 
different portions of a plot of ground prepared for 
the purpose, and which measuring three roods three 
perches, serves ordinarily for the effective and profit¬ 
able utilization of the whole liquid refuse of the 
several cottages, the mansion, and the farmstead. 
The drainage of the latter includes the flow from 
cattle sheds and stables, in which from fifteen to 
twenty animals are always present, and about thirty 
head of horned cattle, and thirty horses at intervals. 
The drainage of a large piggery also passes to the 
tanks. 

“ Luxuriant crops have been grown upon the irri¬ 
gated land, last year’s crop consisting of the thou¬ 
sand-headed cabbage. Of this crop, Mr. Hutchin¬ 
son, the steward of the estate, says: 4 Besides 
thriving so well upon the sewage, it is an excellent 1 
food for milk cows, being less strong in taste than 
the drumhead and not having any but a good effect 
upon the milk. The thousand-head can also be 
used as human food. I estimate the value of the 
crops obtained at £25 per annum, or at the rate of 
£32 10$. per acre; and the outlay in attendance 

21 



















































































Figure 30. — Denton and Field’s Sewage Meter, Sectional vi 






























































HH/tOt 

'nnj ;/ 

Mi mu Jmrgf 





Figure 31 


Map op the Sewerage or Eaetwick 



















THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 325 

apon the land and the regulator (“ meter ”) I put 
down at <£7 16s.’ 

44 Mr. Bailey Denton, to whom I am also indebted 
for the plan, has courteously sent me the following 
statement of the cost of the works above described, 
including the 4 meter ’ and the preparation of the 
land, and he remarks upon this statement that, 
4 the yearly return, after deducting the cost of attend¬ 
ance upon the sewaged land and regulator cannot 
be less than £17 per annum, so that already a re¬ 
turn of about five per cent, on the outlay is gained, 
while there is every prospect of increasing that re¬ 
turn as the quantity of sewage dealt with becomes 
greater and its treatment becomes better under¬ 
stood. 

Eastwick Sewerage. 



£ 

s. 

d. 

To payment for labor. 

179 

4 

0 

pipes . 

103 

7 

2 

stone, lime, cement, and sand . 

12 

14 

10 

iron and lead work 

20 

5 

1 

carriage of materials 

1 

9 

1 

Traveling and incidental expenses . 

3 

12 

0 


320 

11 

4 


44 In regard to abatement of slop nuisance, and I 
may add also largely of farm nuisance, among a 
rural community, the arrangements at Eastwick are 
the most complete and satisfactory I have yet seen. 
Notwithstanding the contiguity of the irrigated land 
to the mansion, no nuisance is experienced from it, 
whereas previous to the present arrangements, when 
the slops of the mansion and cottages found their 



326 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


way into neighboring ditches and decomposed there, 
considerable nuisance had existed. With some 
structural alterations in the privies (the principles 
of which are stated in their proper place in this re¬ 
port), and such needed supervision as will now be 
obtained from the sanitary authority appointed un¬ 
der the Public Health Act, 1872, the arrangements 
at Eastwick may be regarded as a pattern to be fol¬ 
lowed by villages and small towns similarly circum¬ 
stanced. 

“From what has already been said it may be 
inferred that the 4 Automatic Sewage Meter ’ ad¬ 
mits of wide application in removing the difficulties 
which often beset the disposal of the sewage of com¬ 
munities larger than Eastwick. It simplifies the 
whole question of dealing with the sewage of small 
towns, villages, isolated institutions, and mansions, 
while securing the most efficient application of the 
sewage to land, both for purification and utilization, 
with the least expenditure of labor.” 

J. A. Davenport, in his paper on Village Sanita¬ 
tion and Rural Drainage and Habitations, says with 
reference to the disposal of slop water through open 
drain pipes laid near the surface : — 

44 1 have in my district a block of eight or ten 
houses (belonging to Mr. Owen Lant of Nantwick) 
that have been drained on this system for two years 
past, and all is working well up to the present time, 
with no signs of choking. Most of this class of work 
is roughly done, and under conditions rendering a 
good result a matter of some doubt, still so far it is 


THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 


327 


as satisfactory as might be expected. A considera¬ 
ble number of houses in this district are drained 
upon this system, but I mention Mr. Lant’s houses 
as being the first that were dealt with and which 
have therefore stood the longest test. The difficul¬ 
ties in persuading and arranging as to this particu¬ 
lar system have been great, for ordinary people do 
not quite comprehend it. Many heads have been 
shaken over it, and some of the attempts at carry¬ 
ing it out would be amusing to relate. The only 
principle that I have considered it safe to act upon 
is to deal with all foul liquids by the soil ; get them 
properly on to it or through it as quickly as possi¬ 
ble, and in suggesting any rural drainage I have 
always kept this end in view. The system sketched • 
out, or some little variation of it, which will fre¬ 
quently be necessary, looking at the varying condi¬ 
tions under which such work has to be carried out, 
will, I venture to think, generally in the country be 
found to furnish a fair solution of the difficulty. I 
I have sub-irrigating drains in gardens in my dis¬ 
trict, where the soil is heav} r , and they are at pres¬ 
ent working well. Probably for villages, etc., no 
better method of dealing with their sewage could 
be adopted than that provided by the automatic 
sewage meter tank. It has been mentioned before, 
that the irregular flow of sewage on to land (at 
times a mere dribble, and at other times flowing 
more copiously) has been a difficulty in its successful 
application. The 4 Automatic Sewage Tank’ meets 
this difficulty. By this means the flow of sewage 


B28 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

from the tank may be regukited, it being not at all 
dependent upon the flow into it.” 

Mr. Davenport thus describes the Eastwick ex¬ 
periment : — 

“ From London to Leatherhead by rail, — a de¬ 
lightful walk thence brings one to the little village 
of Eastwick, the drainage of which is dealt with on 
this system ; the tank here holds five hundred gal¬ 
lons, discharging itself in dry weather three times in 
two days, and receives the slops, etc., from thirteen 
houses, including farm and mansion, representing a 
population of about one hundred and forty-five. 
The sewage is utilized upon a trifle more than three 
fourths of an acre of land. The cost of the works, 
some £320 may look, in the first instance large, 
but it is calculated that a return of £17 or something 
like five per cent, upon the capital, is obtained upon 
the sewaged land. I was much pleased with my 
visit here. There was an absence of nuisance about 
houses, good drainage, and certainly the best method 
of ultimately disposing of village sewage that I had 
seen. Before adopting any system of dealing with 
small quantities of sewage, I would advise any one 
interested to go and see for themselves the drainage 
arrangements at the little village of Eastwick.” 

My own experiment with this system of irrigation 
by subsoil pipes, which has for the past six or seven 
years been eminently satisfactory, was instigated 
by the following which was extracted from an early 
advertising circular of Moule’s Patent Earth-Closet 
Company in London. 


THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 


329 


“ HOUSE SLOPS, ETC. 

“ Where there is a garden, the house-slops and 
sink-water may, in most cases, be made of great 
value, and removed from the house without the 
least annoyance. The only requirement is that 
there shall be a gradual incline from the house to 
the garden. Let all the slops fall into a trapped 
sink, the drain from which to the garden should 
be of glazed socket pipes, well jointed, and empty¬ 
ing itself into a small tank, eighteen inches deep, 
about one foot wide, and of such length as may be 
necessary. The surplus rain-water from the roof 
may also enter this. Out of this tank, lay three 
inch common drain-pipes, eight feet apart, and 
twelve inches below the surface. Lay mortar at top 
and bottom of the joint, leaving the sides open. If 
these pipes are extended to a considerable length, 
small tanks, about one foot square and eighteen 
inches deep, must be sunk at about every twenty or 
forty feet, to allow for subsidence. These can easily 
be emptied as often as required; and the deposit 
may be either mixed with dry earth or be dug in at 
once as a manure. The liquid oozes into the culti¬ 
vated soil; and the result is something fabulous. 
This simple plan will effectually deal with the 
slops ; there is no smell, no possibility of any foul 
gas to poison the atmosphere, and with this, and the 
produce of the earth-closet, any ground may be 
productive and profitable. 

“ The two following facts will illustrate the value 
d!" this system of dealing with house-slops, etc. 


330 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

“ On a wall fifty-five feet in length and sixteen 
feet high a vine grows. A three-inch pipe runs 
parallel with this at a distance of six feet from it for 
the entire length ; the slops flow through this pipe 
as above described. On this vine, year after year, 
had been grown four hundred well-ripened bunches 
of grapes, some of the bunches weighing three 
quarters of a pound. During a period of four years, 
for a certain purpose, the supply was cut off. To 
the surprise of the gardener, scarcely any grapes 
during those years appeared ; but afterwards the 
supply was restored, and the consequence was an 
abundant crop ; the wood grew fully sixteen feet, of 
good size and well ripened. 

“ The other case was as follows : — 

“ Pipes were laid below two square yards of earth, 
twelve inches beneath the surface, which were fed 
with the slops through an upright pipe, about one 
large watering-potful daily. In the month of 
November, three roots of Tartarian oats were planted 
in this piece of ground. The stalks attained one 
inch and a quarter in circumference; the leaves 
measured an inch across. 

“ Several of the ears were twenty-six inches long, 
and when the crop was gathered eight hundred 
grains were rubbed out of one ear. The whole 
weight of corn from those plants was three quarters 
of a pound. Twelve of these grains were put into 
the same piece of ground the following year: from 
these was grown one pound and three quarters of 
seed. In fact, in a garden of twenty perches, by 


THE DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE. 


331 


the use of both solid and liquid manure from one 
house, three crops were grown in the year, the value 
of which at market price would be twenty pounds. 

“ In a garden in which this plan has been adopted 
for eight or ten years, the pipes were recently taken 
up in order to see how far they might have been 
filled with the mud of subsidence. After so long 
use, very little subsidence was found, and none to 
obstruct the working of the system, excepting where, 
in one or two places, the bad laying of the pipes 
caused some obstruction. There was nothing which 
might not at any time be remedied in half an hour. 

“ It will be easily seen that this mode of remov¬ 
ing sink-water and slops can be applied to towns or 
districts of towns. Whilst the application of liquid 
sewage, in the ordinary sense of that expression, to 
the purposes of irrigation will be generally impossi¬ 
ble, either from the want of proper land or proper 
fall, or the extravagant cost of pumping, or the 
difficulty of irrigating during frost or during har¬ 
vest, this small portion of the refuse-matter of 
towns, rendered more easy of distribution by the 
admixture of rain-water, can be pumped to any 
height, even to land above the town, at all seasons 
and under all circumstances. During the hard frost 
pf 1867, the sub-irrigation in the garden above men- 

s 

tioned has continued without the slightest interrup¬ 
tion.” 

For how large a community the Denton and 
Field Storage Tank might be made useful we have 
as yet na experience to determine. All that can be 


332 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


said for it at the present time is, that so far as pri¬ 
vate houses, factories, hotels, asylums, and small 
communities are concerned, it offers a means for 
the complete solution of the slop question in a 
manner that will give at least some return for the 
outla} r , for in every case where this underground 
irrigation is used, there is quite sure to be a greater 
or less increase of fertility. 

Note, 2d edition.—Attention is called to the account given in my 
Village Improvements and Farm Villages (Boston: Houghton, Osgood 
& Co.), of the later application of the system of sub-surface irrigation, 
especially as applied to the sewerage of the village of Lenox, Mass. 

This system is now a demonstrated success, so much so that the Mas¬ 
sachusetts Board of Health, in a circular issued in April, 1879, speaks of 
it as “the best” means of disposal where there are no public sewers, 
and where water closets are used. 


CHAPTER XI. 


THE DRAINING OF A VILLAGE. 1 

I WAS called, in the early part of 1878, to ex¬ 
amine the village of Cumberland Mills, Maine, 
where there had been an undue amount of disease, 
indicating a possible defect of drainage. The vil¬ 
lage is chiefly owned by Messrs. S. D. Warren and 
Company, of Boston, and its population is mainly 
employed in their large paper mill. They had taken 
every measure that had occurred to them to provide 
in the best manner for the comfort and welfare of 
their people, and had expended in drains, sewers, 
and other sanitary appliances a very large sum; 
they had, in short, conscientiously done their very 
best, under the lights available to them, to make 
their village a model of healthfulness and conven¬ 
ience. 

I found on every hand ample evidence of elaborate 
and costly work, of a character appropriate to the 
different classes of buildings. The agent’s house 
had the usual conveniences and the usual defects of 
a first-class house in the city ; the boarding-houses 
were abundantly supplied with water-works, and 

1 Reprinted bv permission of Messrs. Harper and Brothers from their 
New Monthly Magazine. 


334 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


the smaller houses had kitchen sinks with running 
water, cellar drains, etc.; some of the larger houses 
were heated with furnaces. The workmanship was 
generally good, and indicated that it had been guided 
by a good engineering skill, though quite without 
sanitary knowledge. 

To one accustomed to the inspection of drainage 
works, the gravest faults of arrangement were every¬ 
where patent. Each house had a long drain lead¬ 
ing from its cellar to a common sewer of too large 
size, or to the surface of lower ground in its vicin¬ 
ity. Where water-closets were used, they had been 
erected with reference to convenience, but without 
reference to a proper disposal of their wastes. Most 
of the smaller houses had common privies adjacent to 
them, and in the majority of cases the drainage of 
the kitchen sink delivered, often through an insuf¬ 
ficiently closed channel, into the mouth of the un¬ 
trapped drain of the cellar. In some instances there 
were indications that these drains had become ob¬ 
structed, and the discharge of the kitchen sink had 
overrun the cellar bottom. In other cases the foul 
air of the drain, or of the sewer into which it dis¬ 
charged, flowed back into the cellar and permeated 
the house. In the few instances where furnaces 
were used, they took their supply of cold air not 
from outside the house, but from the front hall, the 
same air being cooked over and over again—cer¬ 
tainly with the effect of economizing fuel. The 
soil pipes of the water-closets were unventilated, 
and the insalubrity seemed to be pretty nearly in 


THE DRAINING OF A VILLAGE. 335 


proportion to the effort which had been made to 
overcome it. 



I was entirely unhampered in my instructions, 
and was encouraged to do all that the most perfect 


















836 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


sanitary condition required. The village lies on 
rolling ground considerably higher than the pond 
made by the damming of the Presumpscot River. 
This pond, has a rapid and constant movement. 
The arrangement of the new system is shown in 
Figure 32. For drainage, the houses are grouped 
mainly into three sets, each with its independent 
sewer discharging into the river. A is the office 
building, where the work was very simple, and has 
not been changed. B is the agent’s house, of which 
the drainage was entirely re-arranged, with a ven¬ 
tilation of its main drain and soil pipe. It is to the 
drainage of the operatives’ houses that I desire to 
call especial attention. 

The heavier lines indicate the main sewers, of 
six-inch vitrified pipe, running from the flush tanks 
(F T) to the river. These are laid with securely 
cemented joints, and with Y branches to receive 
the house drains, which are shown by the lighter 
lines. These house drains are of four-inch vitrified 
pipe, with cemented joints. Each one of them 
reaches nearly to the foundation wall of the house, 
and is connected under the cellar floor with the 
water-closet, which is in nearly every case located 
in the cellar. The outlet of each of the main sew¬ 
ers is arranged as shown in Figure 33, its extension 
through the bank wall of the pond and for some 
distance into the water being of iron pipe supported 
and protected by loose stone-work. At the top 
of the bank there is erected from a T branch of the 
sewer a four-inch iron pipe extending above the sur- 


THE DRAINING OF A VILLAGE. 


337 


INLET 


face of the ground, and open at its month for the 
admission of air. There is no trap between this 
point and 
the founda¬ 
tion walls of 
the houses, 
each house 






tv;-.-'.S : ""a'*' 

Cl'-'". t'V Ho 


drain being - 
connected 
outside the 

walls with a ^ISP^ * ~ - 

t h r e e - i ll C ll Fig ure 33. — Outlet of sewer, with ventilation inlet. 

ventilation pipe reaching above the roof, shown in 
Figure 35. This arrangement secures a free circu¬ 
lation of air through the entire length of sewer and 
house drains. 

At the upper end of each main sewer there is 
placed a Field’s Flush Tank, constructed as shown 

in Figure 
34. This is a 
brick cham¬ 
ber built in 
the ground, 
receiving in 
one case the 
drainage of 
a four-tene¬ 
ment house, 
and in the 
two others 
the drainage 



22 


















































































































338 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

of the upper two houses of the series — roof water 
and all. The drainage enters the tank through the 
pipe C. A is the surface of the water when the 
tank is full, and B when it is emptied. The ca¬ 
pacity of the tank between the lines A and B is 
about five barrels. In front of the entrance there 
is a wire screen to prevent the passage of coarse 
material. This is held in place by wooden wedges, 
and may easily be removed for cleansing. The de¬ 
pression below the line B is for the accumulation of 
solid matters which ma} 7 ' not become decomposed. 
A portion of the tank is carried up to the surface of 
the ground, with a movable cover for a man-hole. 
E is Field’s Automatic Annular Siphon, by which 
the tank is emptied as soon as its contents rise high 
enough to flow over the top of its inner (and longer) 
limb. The short limb is a dome inclosing the inner 
limb, with a water-way all around its bottom, reach¬ 
ing to the line B. The drainage of the remaining 
houses of each system flows directly to the main 
drain, where it may deposit more or less of its 
coarser matters. The drainage of the upper houses 
flows into the flush tank, where it is held until the 
top of the siphon is reached. The whole amount 
(five barrels) is then discharged with great rapidity 
into the main sewer (Z>), washing it clean from end 
to end. During storms the roof water increases 
this action, but the flow of sewage alone is sufficient 
to remove all accumulations from the sewer. 

The arrangement within the houses is shown in 
Figure 35, where A is a tumbler tank, delivering 


THE DRAINING OF A VILLAGE. 


339 


about two quarts of water at each discharge ; B is 
the kitchen sink ; C is a check-valve trap, prevent¬ 
ing the re¬ 
turn of air 
from the wa¬ 
ter-closet to 
the sink; and 
-Z), the water- 
closet, in the 
cellar. The 
closets are of 
enameled 
cast iron, with 
iron traps, and 
iron connec¬ 
tions with the 
house drains, 
the whole be¬ 
ing securely 
set in cement, 
which forms 
the entire 
floor of the 
closet apart¬ 
ment. The 
whole cellar $ 
bottom is 

COated in like F'£ ure 35. — House, kitchen, and cellar, with sink, 
. water-closet, flushing arrangement, and check- 

manner With valve. 

cement. The 

closet has a wooden seat, but no riser. The whole 



VENTILATION PIPE 









































































340 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

space around the pot is open to the air and light, 
and to the broom and floor cloth. 

Figure 36 shows the construction of the tumbler 
tank, which is a small galvanized iron tank inclosed 
in a wooden box, of which the cover may be locked, 
and within which is a small faucet connected with 
the public water supply, and under the control of 
the public inspector only. Within the box, and 
supported on knife-edge trunnions, is a galvanized 
iron tumbler or tilting basin, with a capacity of 
about two quarts. Its normal position is shown by 
the solid lines (-4), its rear end resting on a buffer 
of India rubber. The faucet is set to fill it at fixed 
intervals, usually from five to ten minutes. When 

nearly full, the 
weight of the wa¬ 
ter in the project¬ 
ing lip causes it 
to tilt forward and 
assume the posi¬ 
tion indicated by 
the dotted lines 

(i?), its front side 
Figure 36. —Details of the tumbler tank. striking ail India 

rubber buffer, and its contents pouring rapidly out, 
to flow off through the outlet pipe, as shown by 
the arrow. When empty, its rear end is the 
heaviest, and it drops back into position, ready to 
receive another charge of water. C is the lock 
and staple by which the cover is secured. Figure 
37 shows a cross section of the patent check-valve, 



















THE DRAINING OF A VILLAGE. 


341 



by which the air of the cellar or closet is prevented 
from returning to the kitchen. 

The frequency of the flushing discharge is a per¬ 
fect security against 
frost; the kitchen waste- j 
pipe is kept clean, and 
the trapping water of 
the closet is renewed 
every five or ten min¬ 
utes, day and night, all 
fasces and kitchen waste 
being carried into the 
drain and quite on the 
river before its decom¬ 
position can even begin. Fig ure 37 . — Cross section of check- 
This frequent renewal valve, 

of the water in the closet trap would be a consider¬ 
able protection against foul air in the drain even 
were this not ventilated. In effect there is perfect 
ventilation only a few feet distant from the closet. 
The whole arrangement is entirely pure and satis¬ 
factory, and it secures the removal of all offensive 
waste matters in a most complete and unobjection¬ 
able manner. The same arrangements in principle 
are applied to the two large boarding-houses, one 
for men and one for women, and with equally good 
results. 

Other minor improvements have been made, such 
as the under-draining of a low tract, as shown by 
dotted lines near the southeast corner of the map ; 
the removal of stables, of all pig-pens, and of all 


























342 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

privies. Where cellars are subject to soil moist¬ 
ure they have been drained below the concrete, and 
with ample protection against the return of drain 
air through the old drains leading to the old sewer, 
or to the hill-sides. These drains have absolutely 
no connection with the foul-water system, which 
delivers below the surface of the water in the river, 
which is frequently and thoroughly flushed, and 
which is abundantly ventilated close up to the wall 
of every house. 

Not as a matter of drainage, but as being very 
necessary to health, the cold air supply to furnaces, 
where these exist, has been cut off from the front 
hall registers and brought into communication with 
the outer air. 

The houses shown on the map which are not con¬ 
nected with the sewers are mainly either not the 
property of Messrs. S. D. Warren and Company, or 
are to be torn down or removed. 

The method of sewerage above indicated, and, so 
far as working-people are concerned, the method of 
house drainage, are almost universally applicable to 
country villages generally, and even to very large 
villages. Indeed, with a very moderate increase of 
size in the main sewers, where a hundred or more 
houses are to be drained, it is the best system avail- 
ble for many villages which have city charters. It 
would often be necessary, but by no means always, 
to secure some better means of sewage disposal than 
its discharge into a river or brook. One very im¬ 
portant fact in this connection is apt to be over- 


THE DRAINING OF A VILLAGE. 


343 


looked, which is, that while the outflow of large 
and sluggish sewers is poisonous to fish, and in every 
way unfitted for admission to rivers, fresh faecal 
matter and fresh kitchen waste are food for fishes, 
which are its natural and proper scavengers. The 
whole household drainage of a town should be car¬ 
ried immediately into a river by cleanly flushed 


sewers. 


CHAPTER XII. 


RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 

It is only about four years since the first edition 
of this book was published. So far as possible, I 
therein stated fairly the condition of the art at that 
time. Viewed in the light of present knowledge on 
the subject, parts of that first edition are already, 
in many respects, quite out of date. Knowledge has 
increased, experience has multiplied, and invention 
has been most fertile. The illustrations there given 
of the proper arrangement of house drainage (Fig¬ 
ure 12, page 188) represented a soil pipe and drain 
running in an unbroken course from the sewer in 
the street, under the basement floor, and up through 
the roof of the house. Connected with it were sev¬ 
eral water-closets, a sink, and the overflow-pipes of 
the tank in the attic and of the service cisterns of 
the closets. In all cases the different vessels were 
separated from the soil pipe only by water-sealed 
traps, and only the same protection was afforded in 
the case of the main tank. The system thus repre¬ 
sented is defective in several particulars. 

(«.) The water of the tank is liable to dangerous 
contamination through the overflow-pipe which leads 


RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 345 

into the soil pipe, with only the insufficient protec¬ 
tion of a water-seal, — especially insufficient as it 
has no certain means of renewal, and may by evap¬ 
oration give direct access to the air of the soil 
pipe. 

(5.) The overflow-pipes of the service cisterns 
may in like manner become channels for the intro¬ 
duction of drain air to the apartments. 

(c.) The unprotected traps of the sink and the 
water-closets are inadequate for the work they are 
intended to perform, and all of them are suscepti¬ 
ble, under certain conditions, of becoming empty 
by evaporation or by siphoning. 

(<7.) Although the soil pipe is continued through 
the roof, full-bore, and is open at the top, it has no 
provision for the admission of fresh air at its foot, 
which is now regarded as a matter of imperative 
necessity. > 

(e.) The carrying of a foul-water drain under the 
basement floor is to be avoided wherever possible. 

These defects are sufficient, in the opinion of those 
instructed in such matters, to condemn this whole 
arrangement, which only four years ago was re¬ 
garded as the best yet devised. 1 

All this indicates that the art under consideration 
is undergoing rapid development, and that it is by 
no means to be assumed that we have yet arrived 
at ultimate perfection in the matter. 

Were I called upon to-day to specify the essen- 

1 This illustration was taken from the latest accepted English authority 
on such subjects. 


346 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

tial features of perfect house drainage, I should in¬ 
clude the following items: — 

The establishment of a complete circulation in 
the main line of soil pipe and drain, allowing a free 
movement of atmospheric air through the whole 
system from end to end, together with as free a cir¬ 
culation through minor pipes as could conveniently 
be secured. 

The absolute separation of the overflow of every 
tank or cistern delivering water for the general 
supply of the house from any soil pipe or drain con¬ 
taining a foul atmosphere. 

The supplementing of every water-trap with a 
suitable mechanical valve, to prevent the water of 
the trap from coming in contact with the air of the 
drain. 

The reduction of the size of all waste-pipes, and 
especially of all traps, to the smallest diameter ade¬ 
quate to their work. 

The abolition of all brick or earthenware drains 
within the walls of the house, using in their stead 
the best quality of iron pipe, with securely caulked 
lead joints. 

The exposure of pipes “ in sight ” wherever this 
can be done. The substitution, so far as practi¬ 
cable, of wrouglit-iron pipes for lead pipes, in the 
case of all minor wastes. 

The coating of all iron pipes, both cast and 
wrought, inside and out, with “ American ” en¬ 
amel, a glossy black coating which withstands in 
the most complete manner the chemical action and 


RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 347 

changes of temperature to which it is subjected in 
such use. 

The iron pipes should be extended so far beyond 
the foundation of the house as to obviate the open¬ 
ing of joints by settlement, so common where 
earthenware drains are subjected to a slight move¬ 
ment of the foundation, or of the new fitting about 
it. 

The object to be sought is the provision of a per¬ 
manent drainage channel for the removal of all 
wastes, offering little asperity for the adhesion of 
foul matter, swept from end to end by fresh air, ab¬ 
solutely separated by mechanical obstructions from 
the interior atmosphere of the house, and literally 
a section of out-of-doors brought for convenience 
within the walls of the house, open to receive the 
contents of the various waste-pipes leading to it, but 
securely closed against the return of its air. I be¬ 
lieve that the next step in advance will be the es¬ 
tablishment of means by which the whole length of 
this drainage channel may be thoroughly flushed 
with clean water at least once in twenty-four 
hours. 

As a prominent detail of house-drainage work, 
the long-accepted water-closet is being made the ob¬ 
ject of important modifications. The stereotyped 
article, the 44 pan ” closet, has little to recommend 
it beyond the fact of its general adoption. It is 
faulty in principle, in arrangement, and in construc¬ 
tion. While it is cleanly to look at, and lends it¬ 
self readily to ornamental joinery, it has defects 


348 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

which should drive it out of existence. Deep down 
in its dark and hidden recesses, where only the ken 
of the plumber ever reaches, a large and sluggish trap 
— they call it a “ cess-pool ” in Scotland — is gen¬ 
erally holding the filthiest filth in a state of offen¬ 
sive putrefaction. The iron chamber above this is 
lined with the foulest smear and slime, constantly 
producing foetid and dangerous gases. The earthen¬ 
ware bowl which surmounts this is set in putty, 
which yields to corrosion and to the jar of frequent 
use, until it leaks foul air, often in perceptible quan¬ 
tity. The panful of sealing water soon becomes 
saturated with foul gases, which exhale thence into 
the house. The whole apparatus is incoffined in 
tight-fitting carpentry, which shuts in the leakings 
and the spatterings and their vapors from the free 
access of air, boxing up in the interior of the house, 
and generally in free communication with the spaces 
between the walls and under the floors, an atmos¬ 
phere heavy with the products of organic decompo* 
sition, and faintly suggestive to (the unwonted nos¬ 
tril) of the mus decumanus defunctus. 

Some of these defects were recognized and pointed 
out in my earlier papers. I then believed that the, 
difficulties of the case had been solved in great meas¬ 
ure by the Jennings closet. It now seems that 
this closet and the whole class to which it belongs 
are seriously defective; and, in the absence of any¬ 
thing better, I am disposed to go back to the simple 
“ hopper ” closet (Figure 38), such as is used in 
the cheapest work, and to depend on frequent and 


RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 349 



Figure 38. 
The hopper 
closet. 


copious flushing to keep it clean. This closet has 
the great advantage that its only trap 
is in sight at the bottom of its pot. 

There is no inner “chamber of hor¬ 
rors ” concealed by a cleanly exterior. 

I have recently used a number of these 
closets supplied with various sorts of 
apparatus for periodical flushing, and 
I find that wherever a half-gallon flush 
can be given every ten or fifteen min¬ 
utes they are kept perfectly clean. I have no doubt 
that flushing every half hour would keep them free 
from all sanitary objection. This would require a 
supply of about twenty-five gallons per diem. 

Recent invention has been turned in the direc¬ 
tion of the provision of mechanical appliances for 
separating the trapping water from the air of the 
soil pipe or drain. There are several devices which 
accomplish this purpose, — one of them (Figure 37) 
my own, and more than one of them constituting a 
very great improvement upon, and indeed an absolute 
step in advance of, anything in use five years ago, 

Another most important matter of recent develop¬ 
ment is the through and through ventilation of soil 
pipes. Formerly the soil pipes invariably stopped at 
the highest closet of the house. When the danger 
of pressure came to be understood, it was considered 
imperative in all work of the best class to carry a 
vent-pipe out through the top of the house. As this 
' pipe, from the smallness of its size and from the ir¬ 
regularities of its course, had but limited capacity of 


350 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

discharge, the necessity was quite generally recog¬ 
nized for carrying up the soil pipe itself, full-bore, 
through and above the roof. This was the point 
reached at the time of my earlier writing. It soon 
became evident that even this extension of the large 
pipe afforded no real ventilation. A deep mine shaft 
cannot be ventilated by simply uncovering its top. 
No complete frequent change of air can be effected 
in a soil pipe by merely opening its upper end. Air 
must be introduced at the bottom to take the place 
of that which is discharged at the top. It is now 
considered imperative in all good work to open the 
soil pipe at both ends, or at least to furnish the 
lower part of the pipe with a sufficient fresh-air 
inlet to effect a thorough ventilation of the whole 
channel. 

We have heard so much of “sewer gas ” that 
we were in danger of ascribing the production of 
this foul air only to the sewer and cess-pool. In¬ 
deed, the majority of sanitarians to this day seem 
to believe that if they can effect a thorough dis¬ 
connection between the sewer or drain and the 
waste-pipes of the house they have gained a suffi¬ 
cient protection against sewer gas. The fact is 
that that combination of the gaseous products of 
organic decomposition which is known by the gen¬ 
eric name of sewer gas is very largely produced by 
the contents of the house-pipes themselves. Not 
only in the traps, where the coarser matters ac¬ 
cumulate, but all along the walls of the smeared 
pipes, where filth has attached itself in its passage,^ 


EECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 351 

there is a constant decomposition going on which is 
producing its constant results. The character of 
this decomposition and the character of the pro¬ 
duced gases are greatly influenced by the degree to 
which access is given to atmospheric air. The more** 
complete the ventilation, the greater the dilution 
of the gases formed and the more complete their re¬ 
moval, and also the more innocuous their character. 
Under the most favorable circumstances, the con¬ 
tained air of a soil pipe must be offensive, and is 
likely to become dangerous ; so that, however 
thorough the ventilation, we must still adopt every 
safeguard against its admission into the house. The 
facility with which foul gases penetrate water and 
escape from it makes the water-seal trap, which is 
now our almost universal reliance, an extremely in¬ 
efficient protection. There can be no real safety 
short of the adoption of some appliance which shall 
keep every outlet securely closed against the pos¬ 
sible return of drain air. 

Mr. Elliot C. Clarke, the principal assistant en¬ 
gineer in charge of the Improved Sewerage Work 
of Boston, in a paper entitled u Common Defects in 
House Drains,” contributed to the Tenth Annual 
Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, 
says on the subject of sewer gas : “ The writer has 
no wish to be an alarmist. The risk from sewer gas 
is probably not so great as many suppose; it is a 
slight risk, but a slight risk of a terrible danger. If 
a man thinks there is no need of insuring his house 
because his father lived in it for fifty years without 


352 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


a conflagration, he has a right to his opinion.” Pro¬ 
fessor Fleeming Jenkin, in his “ Healthy Houses,” 
says, “Simple sewer gas is little worse than a bad 
smell. Tainted sewer gas may be so poisonous that 
a very little introduced into a bedroom — so little 
as to be quite imperceptible to the nose — shall cer¬ 
tainly give typhoid fever to a person sleeping there. 
The germ is a spark, the effects of which may be 
unlimited. We do not content ourselves with ex¬ 
cluding the great majority of sparks from a powder 
magazine; we do our best that not one may enter.” 

While the water seal is very defective in itself, it 
is a very important adjunct to any mechanical means 
of separation that may be adopted, and all necessary 
precautions should be taken to prevent its removal 
by “ siphoning,” — the sucking out of the water by 
the partial vacuum caused by the flow of water in 
the main pipe, to which its outlet leads. To pre¬ 
vent tliis siphoning action often taxes the ingenuity 
of the engineer more than any part of house-drain¬ 
ing work; and until special devices are made to 
meet the exigency this must remain the most diffi¬ 
cult and intricate part of the house drainer’s task. 

Any one whose attention is given to sanitary work 
must be more and more struck with that peculiar¬ 
ity of human nature which assures us of the excep¬ 
tional excellence of our own belongings. I have 
rarely been called to examine the drainage of a 
house without being told that I was sent for merely 
as a matter of extra precaution. I have never com- 


RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 353 

pleted any examination without discovering serious 
sanitary defects, — not merely such errors of ar¬ 
rangement as were universal until a short time ago, 
but actual, palpable bad condition, which the owner 
and his plumber at once acknowledged as of a grave 
character. Leaks in drains under the cellar floor, 
or in or near the foundation; lead waste-pipes eaten 
through by rats, and spilling their flow under the 
house; lead soil pipes perforated by corrosion ; im¬ 
perfect joints leaking drain air within the parti¬ 
tions ; the accumulation of dirty sloppings under the 
bench, of the water-closet; and even untrapped con¬ 
nection between some room and the soil pipe, or the 
direct pollution of the air over the tank through its 
overflow-pipe, — these are most common faults, and 
some one of them I have found to exist wherever I 
have looked for them in a 44 first-class ” house, where 
it was naturally supposed that the most perfect 
conditions prevailed. 

In no department of sanitary work has progress 
been more marked than in the improvement fore¬ 
shadowed on page 196 et infra , concerning the dis¬ 
posal of the liquid wastes of country houses by the 
process of sub-surface irrigation. Like all radical 
improvements, it has had its share of prejudice to 
overcome, and it by no means found the profes¬ 
sional public ready to accept it as the demonstrated 
success which English experience had shown it to 
be. It is now quite safe to say that, among all 
engineers and architects who have given attention 

to the matter, it is acknowledged to afford the best 

23 


354 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 

solution yet attained of this most difficult problem. 
I know very many cases of its adoption, often with¬ 
out professional guidance, and carried out in a rule- 
of-thumb sort of way, and I have heard of none 
that is not satisfactory. It does awav with that 
king of nuisances, the cess-pool, and disposes of all 
manner of liquid waste insensibly, completely, and 
safely. The credit for this improvement is due pri¬ 
marily to the Rev. Henry Moule, the inventor of 
the earth-closet, and hardly less to Mr. Rogers Field, 
C. E., who relieved it of its chief embarrassment by 
adapting to it his automatic flush tank. This s} r s- 
tem has recently received the unqualified indorse¬ 
ment of that highest American sanitary authority, 
the Massachusetts State Board of Health, which in a 
circular issued in April, 1879, says : “ Chamber slops, 
and slop water generally, should never be thrown 
on the ground near houses. They may be ... . used 
by distribution under the surface of the soil in the 
manner described on page 334 of the Seventh An¬ 
nual Report of the State Board of Health, and now 
introduced in the town of Lenox, Massachusetts. . . . 
If water-closets are used, and there are no sewers, 
the best disposal of the sewage is by the flush tank 
and irrigation under the surface of the soil, as de¬ 
scribed on page 135 of the Eighth Annual Report 
of the State Board of Health.” 

This system has been for two years in full oper¬ 
ation for the entire sewage of the village of Lenox, 
where it has proved itself an absolute and unques¬ 
tionable success. The question which seems to arise 


RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 355 

in every Northern mind when this method is sug¬ 
gested relates to the possible effect of severe frosts. 
It seems now to be clearly demonstrated that this 
consideration may be left entirely out of the ac¬ 
count, no instance having been cited of the least ob¬ 
struction from this source. This point will be more 
fully treated farther on. 

The progress made in the matter of town drainage 
has not been less than that in the twin department 
of house drainage ; but the advance has been thus 
far— at least so far as this country is concerned — 
more a matter of theory than of practical applica¬ 
tion, and it relates more to villages and to what may 
be called village-cities than to larger places, like 
New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. 

Sewerage was long confined to large towns, and it 
reached its development under the direction of en¬ 
gineers trained to foresee all possible contingencies, 
and to pitch their work on a scale adequate to cope 
with them. Having usually ample means at their 
command, and with the inclination to work after 
great models, their works have generally been costly 
and vastly comprehensive. So far as the drainage 
of the great cities is concerned, there is much to be 
said, too, on the other side, and it has been ably 
said. My present purpose relates chiefly to the 
tewerage of villages and country towns having a 
considerable proportion of uncovered and unpaved 
area. There are hundreds of towns in this country 
sadly in need of draining, which cannot afford the 
gigantic and costly work of introducing such a sys- 

S 


356 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


tem of sewers as it is uusal to find in a great city. 
Quite generally, when the question of their drainage 
arises, a city sewerage engineer is consulted, and a 
plan is prepared which remains unexecuted because 
of its excessive cost. By far the larger part of this 
cost is due to the fact that the proposed system con¬ 
templates the drainage of such sub-cellars as are 
rarely found in country towns, involving a depth 
that would probably never be needed, and the re¬ 
moval of the storm water, which, after the area shall 
have become covered and paved, might flow off by 
the public sewers. It would be better, in the case 
of all rural towns, to disregard the question of storm 
water entirely. This may be more safely and much 
more cheaply removed over the surface. The only 
reason for admitting it to the sewers would be to 
prevent injury to property. Under the circum¬ 
stances we are considering, the danger of this is not 
sufficient to justify the expense ; nor is it sufficient, 
were there no question of expense, to justify the 
sanitary and economical disadvantages of providing 
for it by a system of large sewers. It is better to 
keep above ground, and to discharge by the natural 
means of outflow, all water which may be so dis¬ 
posed of without offense or danger to health, — that 
is, all or nearly all rainfall. The extent to which 
the first flow over a paved road-way may properly 
be admitted to the sewers is a question to be decided 
according to the circumstances of each case. It is 
generally wiser to keep such road-ways clean by 
sweeping than to use the rain-fall as a scavenger. 


RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 357 

What towns of the class under consideration need 
— and they need it very imperatively —is a per¬ 
fect means for the removal of the foul wastes of 
households, factories, etc., and for the draining of 
the sub-soil, if this is springy or wet. They should 
only be called upon to spend the money necessary 
to secure these ends. If they can learn to limit 
their demands to this absolute requirement, their 
sanitary improvement need no longer be the bug¬ 
bear that it now is. 

The advantages of small-pipe sewers have been 
sufficiently stated, except, perhaps, with reference 
to the single matter of ventilation. It is much 
easier and more simple to secure the needed change 
of the atmosphere of a small chamber than of a 
large one, and the usual means, which are but par¬ 
tially effective in the case of a large brick sewer, 
are ample for the complete ventilation of a small 
pipe. Hitherto the objection has held, in the case 
of pipe sewers of less than ten inches in diameter, 
that when they become obstructed it is a difficult 
and costly matter to clear them. But for this objec¬ 
tion, there was no reason why six-inch sewers might 
not be used for all villages or parts of towns having 
a population of not more than one thousand; for a 
six-inch pipe laid even with a very slight inclina¬ 
tion has ample capacity for the discharge of all the 
household waste of such a population. 

We have now reached the point where there is 
no reason whatever to apprehend the obstruction 
of such a sewer by anything that can get into it 


358 SANITARY DRAINAGE OF HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


through proper and properly arranged branch drains. 
Rogers Field’s Flush Tank, as arranged for the pe¬ 
riodic flushing of such sewers, may be confidently 
relied on to keep them swept clean of everything 
that may enter them. The accompanying diagram 
(Figure 39) shows the construction of the annular 

siphon, which is the essential feat¬ 
ure of this tank. A siphon of this 
form, four inches in diameter, comes 
into action with certainty under a 
stream of one tenth of a gallon per 
minute; so that a tank having a 
capacity of one hundred and fifty 
gallons, placed at the head of each 
branch sewer and fed by a stream 
which will fill it once in twenty-four 
hours, will give it a thorough daily 
flushing, and keep it clear of all ob- 

Figure 39. —Rogers structions. No matter how limited 
Field’s Annular Si- the public water supply may be, this 

phon ‘ small amount can always be spared 

for the work. Where there is no public supply 
and no available 
extrinsic source 
of flushing water, 
the sewage itself 
from a few of the 
upper houses 
along each lateral 
sewer, together 
witli their roof water, may be collected in the tank 
and used for the flush. 




Figure 40. — Rogers Field’s Flush Tank for 
Sewers. 



















































RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 359 

This simple device has proved itself, both here 
and in England, to be entirely reliable and effective. 
It may safely be assumed that it has secured a re¬ 
duction of the cost of the drainage of small towns 
to one half of what was formerly necessary. 

It has been held hitherto to be one of the advan¬ 
tages of sewerage that the imperfect joints or im¬ 
perfect material of the sewers afford an outlet for 
superabundant soil water, and secure a valuable 
sub-soil drainage. It is coming to be understood 
that the same channels which admit soil water to 
the drain will admit drain water to the soil, robbing 
the sewers of the vehicle needed for the transpor¬ 
tation of their more solid contents, and causing a 
dangerous pollution of the ground, of cellars, and 
of drinking-water wells. The foul-water sewers 
should be as absolutely tight as the best material 
and the best workmanship can make them, and the 
drainage of the ground should be effected by the 
use of agricultural drain-tiles, constituting an en¬ 
tirely separate system, which, while they may for 
economy’s sake generally occupy the same trenches 
with the sewers, should be carefully arranged to 
prevent sewage matters from entering them. 

The question of sewage disposal is the great un¬ 
answered question of the day. We are familiar 
with the objections to the methods usual here. 
European countries, which have been forced by the 
density of their population to give especial attention 
to this subject, have as yet hardly got beyond the 
point of proving that there is no royal road to sue- 


360 SANITARY DRAINAGE IN HOUSES AND TOWNS. 


cess, and that whatever theory may say on the 
subject, sewage not only has no value to the com¬ 
munity producing it, but it cannot be got rid of 
except at considerable cost. 

The only method thus far developed which is 
entitled to consideration here, aside from discharge 
into the sea or into a running stream, is purification 
by application to the soil, with or without the agri¬ 
cultural consideration. Whether by surface irriga¬ 
tion, by the use of sub-surface absorption drains, or 
by intermittent downward filtration, this method of 
its disposition, properly applied, is absolutely com¬ 
plete and satisfactory. The opinion has quite natu¬ 
rally prevailed that the severity of our winter 
climate debarred us from availing ourselves of it. 
The experience of the severe winter of 1878 9 has 
fully justified the opinion of those who have main¬ 
tained that this objection is not a real one. In 
England the sewage-irrigation farms have taken 
charge of the effluent without interruption through¬ 
out a season of almost unexampled severity. At 
Berlin a like immunity has continued throughout 
the winter ; and even at Dantzic, near the mouth 
of the Vistula, in a climate nearly as severe as that 
of St. Petersburg, and where provision was made 
for a direct discharge into the river during the win¬ 
ter season, the disposal by irrigation is said, to the 
surprise of all, to continue uninterrupted in the 
coldest weather. 

At the Nursery and Child’s Hospital on Staten 
Island, winter overtook us before our absorption 


RECENT MODIFICATIONS IN SANITARY DRAINAGE. 361 

drains could be laid. The flush tank, which holds 
one day’s sewage, was made to discharge over a low 
spot near the absorption ground. Even in the cold¬ 
est weather the entire outflow settled away into the 
earth before the next flood was delivered. Evidently 
the warmth of the sewage is in all cases sufficient 
for it to thaw its way into the ground. This is, 
without doubt, the explanation of the continued 
working of the shallow drains under my own lawn 
during nine consecutive winters, although at least 
once the ground was frozen to a depth of two and a 
half feet below them. 






INDEX 


♦ 


Ash-closets, 214, 271, 275, 280. 

Ashes for earth-closets, 250. 

Batavia (N. Y.), removal of malarious 
condition, 109. 

Bath-tubs, 103. 

Blunt's overflow for Jennings’s closet, 
79. 

Boards of Health of England. Gen¬ 
eral conclusions as to sanitary drain¬ 
age, 118. 

Boards of Health should decide what 
may be admitted to the sewer, 117. 
Beards of Health should regulate the 
sites of houses, 12, 57. 

Boston, its drainage, 64. 

Brick sewers, objections to, 146. 
Brierly, typhoid at, 40. 

Broad Street pump, 68. 

Brooklyn, amount of sewage, 129. 

Capacity of sewers, 134, 136,138. 
Causation of disease (Dr. Simon), 35. 
Cellar drainage, 74. 

Cellars, 73, 83, 84. 

Cellars, flooding of, 128. 

Cement pipes for sewers, 145. 
Cerebro-spinal meningitis, 53, 96, 101. 
Cess-pool, 79, 80, 89, 107. 

Charcoal ventilators, 159. 

Chimneys and flues for sewer ventila¬ 
tion, 156. 

Chimneys, house-drain ventilators in, 
93. 

Choking of sewers, 133. 

Cholera, bad drainage, 53. 

Cholera, mortality from, 20. 

Cleansing sewers, 165. 

Closets, water, 78, 79, 190, 193. 
Construction of sewers, 180. 
Consumption from moisture, 44. 
Contagions and miasms, 57. 
Contamination of soil, 82. 
Contamination of wells, 81. 

Country house-drainage, 79. 

Chosshill, typhoid at, 40. 

Croydon, cost and value of sewer¬ 
age, 115. 

Croydon, typhoid and sewer ventila¬ 
tion, 109, 112, 151, 157. 


Dampness, 48, 73. 

Dams for flushing sewers, 167. 
Death-rate in London at different po> 
riods, 21. 

Death-rates in England, 18. 
Decomposing matter in cellars, 83, 
84. 

Denton and Field’s sewage tank, 319. 
Deodorizing, 91. 

Deposits in sewers, 144. 

Derby, Dr , without filth typhoid ia 
not born, 56. 

Details of house drainage, 186. 
Diarrhoea, 96. 

Diphtheria, 53, 54, 55, 96, 101. 
Diphtheria, and sewer gas, 44. 
Discharge of sewage at different houses 

Diseases from sewer gas, 96. 

Disease, stamping out sources of, 88. 
Disinfectants, not reliable, 57. 
Disinfectants, objectionable, 165. 
Disinfection, 90, 91. 

Disposal of house slops, 196, 329 
Disposal of sewage, 314. 

Drainage, as affecting fever and ague, 
45, 48, 50. 

Drainage entails responsibility, 79. 
Drainage, from kitchen sinks, 75. 
Drainage of houses, 186. 

Drainage of towns, 105. 

Drains and sewers, sizes of, 135. 

Drains, dangers of, 91. 

Drains, private, 106, 177, 206, 208. 
Drains, ventilation of, 91, 95. 
Drinking-water, 80, 81, 82, 83. 
Drinking-water, infected, 26, 27, 66, 
67, 68. 

Dry conservancy system, 213. 

Dry earth, 90-93. 

Dry-earth system, 68, 213. 

Dysentery, 53. 

Earth-closet apparatus, 244. 
Earth-closet, ashes may be used in, 
250. 

Earth-closet, hygienic advantages, 263 
Earth-closet, manure from, 225, 234 
258. 

Earth-closet, management of, 217. 







3G4 


INDEX 


Earth-closet. Netten Radcuffe's report, 

253. 

Earth-closet, necessary control, 225, 
260. 

Earth-closet system, 214. 

Earth for closets, how obtained, 219. 
Earth, kinds to be used in closets, 217, 
219. 

Earth privies, how arranged, 250. 

Earth system for towns, how man¬ 
aged, 224. 

Earth, the same may be repeatedly used 
in closets, 218. 

Eastwick, sewerage of, 325. 

Effete matters dangerous, 79. 
Egg-shaped sewers, 147. 

English theory of typhoid infection, 
24. 

Epidemics from bad sewerage, 118. 
Excrement as a vehicle of typhoid con¬ 
tagion, 152 

Factories and other industrial estab¬ 
lishments should pay for their own 
extra sewer requirements, 116. 

Fall of sewers, 142. 

Fergus, Dr., 96. 

Fever and ague, Staten Island, 45. 
Field's Hush-tank, 198. 

Filtering through soil, 81. 

Filth, hiding it under ground, 88. 
Flint, Dr., on typhoid, 37. 

Flow in sewers, how retarded, 134 
Flushing, 106, 127,165. 

Flush-tank, Field's. 198. 

Forms of sewers, 146. 

Foul drainage of houses, 75. 
Foundations, 73. 

Friction in sewers, 142. 

Goux system, 214, 265 
Grease traps, 77, 195. 

Gutters cheaper than sewers, 128 

Health, effect of sanitary work, 20. 
Health question, its financial aspect, 
51. 

Holland, Liernur's system in, 305. 
Hotel, Grand Union at Saratoga, 141 
House drains, dangers of, 91. 

House drains, how to be laid, 76. 

House drains, obstructions in, 76. 
House drains should enter sewers 
above water line, 164. 

House drains, sizes for, 137. 

House drains, ventilation of, 91-95. 
Householder, problems to solve, 72. 
House slops, disposal of, 196, 329. 
Houses, dx - ainage of, 71, 186. 

House sewerage, 75. 

House-slops, disposal of, 196 
House ventilation, 201. 

Hull privy, 279. 

Hull system, 276 


Hygienic advantages of earth system 
263. 

Impervious courses in foundations, 73 

Industrial establishments should pay 
for their own extra sewer require¬ 
ments, 116. 

Inspectors of sewage work, 183. 

Intercepting sewers, 124. 

Intermittent water supply as a cause 
of typhoid infection, 41. 

Irrigation, 315. 

Irrigation tank, sewage, 319. 

Jennings's closet, 78, 79, 193. 

Johnson, Prof. S. W., on soil pollution. 
24. 

Junctions of sewers, 177 

Kitchen drain, 75. 

Lamp-holes, 175. 

Large sewers wasteful, 118. 

Latham's charcoal ventilator, 161. 

Lead pipes, decay of, 95, 96. 

Leconte, Dr , recommendations, 34. 

Leconte, Dr., report on typhoid at St. 
Mary's Hall, 33. 

Lewes, typhoid from intermittent wa¬ 
ter supply, 41. 

Liebermeister on typhoid, 68. 

Liernur's system, 284. 

London pumps, 27, 58. 

Malaria, 108, 109. 

Malaria makes all diseases more se¬ 
rious, 116. 

Malarious condition made worse by 
population, 110. 

Man-holes, 175. 

Manure question as affecting earth 
system, 225. 

Manure from earth-closet, 234. 

Maplewood School, 30. 

Miasmas and contagions, 57. 

Mists deleterious to health, 47, 48. 

Mortality by war and by disease, 17. 

Moule's apparatus, 244. 

Moule's dry-earth system, 214. 

Moule's system for house slop disposal, 
196. 

Nervous toothache, bad drainage, 53. 

Netten RadcliHe on the earth system, 
253. 

Neuralgia, bad drainage, 53. 

Newport death-rate, 61. 

Newport, sanitary drainage, 59. 

New York, cost of cleansing sewers by 
flushing, 170. 

New York, cost of cleansing sewers by 
hand,170. 

New York, old water-courses not con- 
nected with diphtheria, 53. 



INDEX. 


365 


New York rain-fall, 132. 

Nuisances, 87. 

Odor and taste of dangerous drinking 
water, 83. 

Odor of sewer gas, 94. 

Odor not a sufficient test of poisonous 
condition, 108. 

Organic matter, refuse, 87 
Outlets, 124. 

Outlets closed by tide, 125. 

Outlets exposed to winds, 126,156. 
Over-Darwen, typhoid at, 42. 

Pail system, 273. 

Palmer, Dr., report on “ Maplewood” 
fever, 31. 

Pan closet, 192. 

Pettenkofer's theory of typhoid in¬ 
fection, 23. 

Pipe sewers need flushing, 173. 
Pittsfield (Mass.), “ Maplewood fever,” 
30. 

Plans of sewerage, 123. 

Plumbing arrangements, 187. 
Plumbing defects, 78. 

Plumbing requires careful supervision, 

lo. 

Pneumatic emptying of vaults, 275. 
Pneumatic system of drainage, 70. 
Pneumatic system, Liernur's, 284. 
Pressure of air in sewers, 154, 156. 
Private drains, 106, 177, 206. 

Private drains, how to be laid, 76. 
Private drains of brick or stone, 118. 
Private sewers, 106. 

Privies, 272. 

Privies, earth, how arranged, 250. 

Privy vault, 90. 

Providence rain-fall, 131 
Providence, rules for laying private 
drains, 208. 

Providence, sewerage well managed, 
181. 

Public sanitary improvement, 14. 
Purification of sewage, 318. 

Rain-fall, 128, 130. 

Rain-water necessary in sewers, 150. 
Rain-water pipes, as sewer ventilators, 
156. 

Removal of sewage should be imme¬ 
diate, 113. 

Rochdale sj’stem, 273. 

Rome, malai’ious region about, 109. 
Rowe on storm-water discharge, 132. 
Rules for laying private drains, 208. 

Sand foundations, 73. 

Sanitary dangers, 87. 

Sanitary improvement in British navy, 

22 . 

Sanitary works, effect on health, 20. 
Saratoga sewer, 139, 184. 


Scarlet fever, 96. 

Scarlet fever, bad drainage, 53. 

Scavenging, 88-90. 

Separate system, 149. 

Sewage discharged into tidal waters. 
127. 

Sewage, disposal of, 314. 

Sewage, effect of vegetation on, 200. 

Sewage irrigation, 149, 315. 

Sewage not dangerous when fresh. 

112 . 

Sewage, pumping, 118,124, 126. 

Sewage purification, 318. 

Sewage, quantity of, for each person, 
129. 

Sewage, recent, floats, when macerated, 
sinks, 127. 

Sewage tank, 319. 

Sewage with and without water-closet 
discharge, 113. 

Sewerage, 123. 

Sewerage and water supply should be 
provided at the same time, 108, 114. 

Sewerage, cost and value of, in Croy¬ 
don, 115. 

Sewerage, how to be paid for, 115. 

Sewerage should be comprehensive 
115. 

Sewer gas, 94. 

Sewer gas and diptheria, 44. 

Sewer gas, dilution of, 158. 

Sewer gas, how admitted to the house, 
98, 99, 103, 189. 

Sewer gas transmitted through the wa¬ 
ter of traps, 97. 

Sewer junctions, 177. 

Sewer pipes, 144. 

Sewer ventilation, 104, 149. 

Sewer work must be thorough, 181 

Sewers, capacity of, 134, 136. 

Sewers, choking of, 133. 

Sewers, construction of, 180 

Sewers, deposits in, 144 

Sewers, fall of, 142. 

Sewers, flushing of, 165. 

Sewers may become elongated cess¬ 
pools, 101. 

Sewers, pressure of air in, 154, 156. 

Sewers, private, 106. 

Sewers, requirements of good, 105. 

Sewers, safe, 152. 

Sewers, sanitary authorities should 
decide what is to be admitted to them 
117. 

Sewers, sizes of, 127, 135, 138, 143. 

Sewers sure to convey contagion, 101, 

112 . 

Shawneetown (Ill.), formerly malari¬ 
ous, 110. 

Shedd, J. Herbert, plan of street gul¬ 
lies, 175. 

Sickness, proportion to deaths, 17. 

Simon, Dr., on “ ferments of disease,” 

35. 





366 


INDEX 


Simon, Dr., on the action of infective 
matters, 37. 

Simon, Dr., on water-closets, 190. 

Sink drain, 75. 

Site of house, its relation to typhoid, 
56. 

Smith's closet, 78, 79. 

Smith, Dr. Stephen, “ Visitation of 
Providence," 68. 

Soil moisture as a cause of consump¬ 
tion, 44. 

Soil moisture and fever and ague, 45. 
Soil moisture cause of dangerous mists, 
47. 

Soil pipes, 94. 

Soil pipes as sewer ventilators, 163. 

Soil pipes, inspection of, 97. 
toil pipes unventilated, 100. 

Soil pipe ventilation, 194. 
i oil water drainage, 108. 
i tagnant pools, 110. 

: taten Island, fe\er and ague, 45. 
Storms, records of. 129, 131. 
Storm-water removal, 124, 128, 132 . 
Street gullies, 173. , 

Subsoil irrigation with house slops, 
196. 

Sulphuretted hydrogen, 153. 

Surface water, 80. 

Taste and odor of dangerous drinking- 
water, 83 

Taunton, “ the cleanest town in En¬ 
gland, ' ! 63 

Thoroughness of sewer work, 181. 

Tide valves, 178. 

Tide water outlets, 125. 

Town sewerage, 123. 

Traps, forcing of, 98, 99, 102, 126, 189. 
Traps for grease, 195. 

Traps, siphoned out, 99, 103. 

Traps transmit gases, 97, 189. 

Trough closets, 282, 283. 

Tumbler closets, 282. 

Tumbler for flushing sewer, 167. 
Typhoid, 101. 

Typhoid and sewer ventilation, 153. 
Typhoid at Brierly, 40. 

Typhoid at Crosshill, 40. 

Typhoid at Lewes, 41. 

Typhoid at Over-Darwen, 42. 

Typhoid at Uppingham, 39. 

Typhoid, contagion by means of excre¬ 
ment, 152. 

Typhoid, English theory, 24. 

Typhoid first attacks those who have 
become debilitated by foul surround¬ 
ings, 57. 

Typhoid from infected milk, 40, 41. 
Typhoid from infected water, 26. 
Tvphoid from unventilated sewers, 
151. 

Typhoid infection from intermittent 
water supply, 41. 


Typhoid, its causes controllable, 29. 

Typhoid, its contagion, 36. 

Typhoid, its relation to s'te of houses 
56. 

Typhoid, Liebermeister on, 58. 

Typhoid may be produced de novo, 30 

Typhoid, Pettenkofer's theory, 23. 

Typhoid propagation, 25. 

Typhoid rate, reduction by sanitary 
works, 21. 

Uppingham, typhoid at, 39 

Vaults, 272. 

Vaults, privy, 90. 

Vegetable decay as a cause of typhoid, 
29. 

Vegetation, effect of, on sewage, 200, 

Velocity of flow, increase of, in sewers, 
134. 

Velocity of flow in sewers, 134, 143. 

Ventilation of house drain, 91, 93, 95 • 

Ventilation of houses, 201. 

Ventilation of houses, effect of, on 
health, 206. 

Ventilation of sewer, 104, 105, 106. 

Ventilation of sewers by frequent open¬ 
ing into streets, 158, 162. 

Ventilation of sewers through soil 
pipes of houses, 163. 

Ventilation of soil pipes, 100, 194. 

Ventilation of water-closets, 78. 

Village sewers, 138, 139. 

Voelcker, Dr., on earth-closet manure, 
234. 

Wash-basin, 103. 

Wash-basins (stationary), 78. 

Water carriage, 118. 

Water-closets, 190. 

Water-closet, defects in, 77. 

Water-closet, Dr. De Chaumont on, 
192. 

Water-closets, Dr. Kill on, 192. 

Water-closet ventilation, 78. 

Water-closets should always be sup¬ 
plied from separate cistern, 191. 

Water supply and sewerage should be 
provided at the same time, 108, 114. 

Water supply, infected, as a cause of 
typhoid, 43. 

Water-closet system has increased the 
prevalence of certain diseases, 101, 
111 . 

Water-closet unsuitable for poorer 
classes, 191. 

Water traps, 93. 

Wells, 80. ' 

Williamstown (Mass.), typhoid from 
poisoned well, 67. 

Windsor (England), typhoid from de¬ 
fective sewer, 112. 

Worthing death-rate. 62. 

Worthing, sanitary drainage, 62 





























































